Europe Hardens Stance on Illegal Immigration (Dispatch)
Video Transcript:
Video Transcript:
French police evicted some 200 undocumented immigrants from a makeshift camp in northern France shortly after dawn on Aug. 9. The eviction follows a series of police raids this week in Paris and Lyon that have resulted in the expulsion or detention of hundreds of undocumented Eastern European immigrants. The recent crackdowns in France are symptomatic of much larger social and political tensions spreading across Europe after five years of financial crisis and no end in sight.
In Greece, police have reportedly detained thousands of foreign nationals a week after launching an unprecedented operation targeting the growing problem of illegal immigration in the country’s major cities. International humanitarian organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have widely condemned the recent police action in Greece, deploring the poor conditions of detention facilities as well as what they claim is indiscriminate targeting of people based on skin color.
However, there is an increasingly active and vocal segment of Greek society that does not share the same sentiments. On Aug. 8, residents of Athens published an open letter supporting a stronger fight against illegal immigration, and accusing the center-left parties of being too soft on the issue. A week earlier, Athens’ central square was filled with citizens lining up to accept free food from members of the extreme right-wing party, Golden Dawn, as long as they could provide documentation proving they were ethnically Greek. Supporters of Golden Dawn’s extremist ideology do not reflect the views of mainstream Greek society. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that the party’s public ranks are growing. In the latest parliamentary elections, Golden Dawn made it into the Greek parliament for the first time in its history.
Similarly in France, the problem of illegal immigration has been a hot-button issue for politicians of all stripes. During this summer’s presidential elections, critics of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy accused the conservative politician of exploiting anti-immigrant sentiment in an attempt to win votes from France’s far-right nationalists. Despite the election of Socialist candidate Francois Hollande and a change in government to the other end of the political spectrum, France’s current administration appears to be carrying out the same hard-line immigration policy developed under its predecessor. Additionally, right-wing National Front party received a strong support in the latest presidential elections.
A growth in the popular support of far-right, nationalist groups is a trend that Stratfor has been monitoring as Europe’s crisis is shifting from primarily financial in nature to a primarily political crisis. At a domestic level, politicians will face increasing pressure to tackle illegal immigration as unemployment continues to rise across the Continent. This will only increase intra-European tensions as the European Union’s member countries try to formulate a common strategy to address their divergent economic needs. Lastly, French and Greek popular hostility towards refugees and immigrants from the east risks building up an animosity that could present a security threat should refugees and immigrants react to the evictions.
At Stratfor, when we forecast the behavior of political leaders, we first consider the constraints under which they must operate. Politicians in both Paris and Athens are responding to what they perceive as growing public support for anti-immigration policies. In times of crisis, nationalism and populist policies often present a more attractive course for leaders. These are trends we expect to see spreading across Europe.
