A political hot potato:
EU immigration
20 November 2014
UK Immigration has long been a topic which has divided British opinion, but as David Cameron attempts to lead the UK towards a controversial curb on EU migration he runs the risk of separating Great Britain from the EU and alienating the nation from a world superpower.
UK’s relationship with Germany on the edge
According to the Telegraph, Germany is to veto Cameron’s plans to cap EU migration to the UK and Angela Merkel has left the British government in no doubt that Germany is perfectly prepared to lose Great Britain from the EU should it continue pushing the reformation of the Lisbon Treaty.
Despite the potential loss of an important friendship with Germany, one of the UK’s biggest trading partners, Cameron seems determined to push for a cap on EU migration to the UK whatever the cost. Leading UK academics have spoken out against the UK’s hostile immigration policies and there seems to be a growing consensus between economists of the benefits of EU immigration to the UK. A recent, widely discussed report by the UCL Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM) found that European immigrants to the UK paid more in taxes than they received in benefits and contributed more than £20b to the struggling UK economy between 2001 and 2011. There have also been calls for larger numbers of better managed EU immigrants. However, it remains to be seen whether or not Cameron will concede defeat and accept Merkel’s statement that free movement for EU citizens is ‘non-negotiable’.
Cameron thrown a bone
In spite of Germany’s hard faced approach; the Prime Minister recently received one piece of good news. Two weeks ago the European Court of Justice lent his endeavours a new lease of life with what the Independent called a ‘landmark’ ruling. The Court upheld Germany’s ruling against a Romanian woman who claimed unemployment benefits but had no intention of working, thereby allowing national governments the right to refuse welfare payments to those migrants who come to their country solely to claim them. The judge said that all EU member states should be able to decide on the payment of non-contributory benefits if all EU citizens are to be treated equally. Manfred Weber, leader of the German conservative party CSU has said that EU countries could avoid social benefits tourism without violating the principle of freedom of movement.
“It sends a clear signal to the member states and to the British Prime Minister in particular,” he said.
Unfortunately it does not seem as though Cameron has received this signal. Whilst speaking in a press conference last week in Canberra, Australia, The Guardian reported that Cameron endorsed Sir John Major’s sentiment from a speech made to Germany last Thursday that Britain may be forced to leave the EU in a separation that would be ‘final’ unless the principle of free movement within the EU was overhauled.
Can a compromise be reached?
However, Sir John Major has now suggested that a pragmatic solution to migration could indeed be found in Europe, by which the number of EU migrants to the UK could be limited on a temporary basis. According to the BBC, Major believes that such measures would address the spike in migrants from the southern parts of the Eurozone without infringing on the European right to free movement. The UK Independence Party has deemed this short-term deal ‘laughable’ but it is said that the Prime Minister is considering all of his options, including a possible emergency brake on the number of new arrivals, and aims to announce his strategy before Christmas.
For now though, it is clear that the stalemate looks likely to continue. As each side sticks to its guns, it remains to be seen if a compromise can be reached or whether Cameron will be ‘forced’ to separate the UK from a political union that has been in existence for nearly half a century.
Share story
