Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T04:41:15.485Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Toward a people's Europe: an institutional analysis of immigration policy in the European Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2009

Gallya Lahav
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Get access

Summary

Act II, Scene 1: In the spring of 1984, a large protest movement of lorry drivers erupted on the German–French border as a reaction to long queues. The ensuing paralysis of crossings at numerous internal European borders foreshadowed the Schengen Agreement, to pave the way for a gradual suppression of control of persons. Ironically, by the late 1980s, the Schengen group became the symbol of fortress Europe. This irony not only epitomizes the practical nature of freedom of movement, and its vital role in further integration, but it also unveils the proximity between “Europe without frontiers” and “fortress Europe.”

(Diary of researcher, June 1997.)

Scene 2: How, finally, can we visualize freedom of movement and freedom of establishment for individuals within the Community, unless we gradually define the elements of a common immigration policy and adopt a comparable, positive attitude to the integration of immigrants already living among us?

(Jacques Delors, president of Commission, 1989: 26.)

The character of immigration and the European movement toward integration together have created a practical need for transnational regulation and standardized policy-making. A major question in considering EU progress on free movement has been: to what extent have European nation-states abdicated state-level and decision-making interests to forge a common immigration policy at the supranational level? This question can be readily answered by examining institutional developments at the ground level.

Whether intergovernmental or supranational in form, the contours of a common immigration policy are shaped by regional integration dynamics.

Type
Chapter
Information
Immigration and Politics in the New Europe
Reinventing Borders
, pp. 26 - 68
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×