Since Germany’s announcement in early September of the reestablishment of controls on its internal borders, Europe has once again brought the immigration debate to the forefront. British Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer traveled to Italy to learn about council president Giorgia Meloni’s restrictive immigration policy. The Netherlands and Hungary officially asked the European Commission, in mid-September, for an exemption to no longer participate in the common migration policy in the event of a revision of the treaties, while in Austria the issue dominated the legislative campaign..
In France, newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau announced on Monday, September 23, that he wanted to end the “immigration disorder”less than a year after the last restrictive law on the matter, while the Danish Prime Minister, the social democrat Mette Fredriksen, stated: “Unfortunately we have to be very tough on immigration. » From now on, we summarize in Brussels, there is no longer any taboo on this issue.
Why such a hardening of the discourse, when irregular arrivals have fallen by 39% since the beginning of 2024 (up to 140,000 people) and the million annual asylum applications, certainly at their highest level, remain modest compared to a continent of 450 million inhabitants? From both the right and the left, European leaders have rigid on this issue and do not hesitate to borrow the ideas that the extreme right has defended for forty years.
“A way to polarize the debate”
“From one country to another, these advertisements are usually linked to electoral sequences, says Matthieu Tardis, researcher at the Synergies think tank and action center on migration. In Germany, the reestablishment of border control came after a heavy defeat for the SPD. [Parti social-démocrate] in some Länder against the far-right AfD party, as well as[’après] tragic news [notamment l’attaque au couteau à Solingen par un réfugié syrien, le 23 août]. In France, firmness on migration management is a strong political marker for the new government. It has become a totem and a way to polarize the debate. »
For Germany and Austria, “The recent announcements are a consequence of ten years of very significant reception.recalls Gerald Knaus, Austrian president of the European Stability Initiative. Between 2014 and 2023, Germany welcomed 35% of asylum seekers in Europe, that is, 2.5 million people, and recognized refugee status for 1.4 million of them. This is almost half of all refugees welcomed in Europe ». Austria has received, in proportion to its population, the largest contingent of refugees. “After large waves of arrivals, there is always a backlash, a return to a protectionist policy. “This has been the case in the United States after every major wave of migration.”COMMENT Political scientist Ivan Krastev, from the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia.
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