Brucker, Herbert --- "The impact of international migration on welfare and the welfare state in an integrated Europe" [2003] ELECD 115; in Tumpel-Gugerell, Gertrude; Mooslechner, Peter (eds), "Structural Challenges for Europe" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003)

Book Title: Structural Challenges for Europe

Editor(s): Tumpel-Gugerell, Gertrude; Mooslechner, Peter

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843764748

Section: Chapter 15

Section Title: The impact of international migration on welfare and the welfare state in an integrated Europe

Author(s): Brucker, Herbert

Number of pages: 44

Extract:

15. The impact of international
migration on welfare and the
welfare state in an integrated
Europe
Herbert Brücker1

1. INTRODUCTION2

In most European host countries residents perceive international migration
as a burden for their welfare and the welfare state. According to the
Eurobarometer survey ­ an opinion poll conducted twice a year in all
member countries of the European Union (EU) ­ the attitude of the major-
ity of natives in the host countries towards immigration can be summar-
ized as follows: immigrants cause unemployment; immigrants abuse the
welfare state; the presence of foreign nationals has reached or even
exceeded its saturation point. European migration policies of the last few
decades have reflected the anxious attitudes of natives in host countries
towards migration. Although the barriers to migration have been removed
between the members of the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA)
to an extent which is unique among regional trade areas, immigration pol-
icies vis-à-vis non-EU and non-EEA countries have become more and
more restrictive following the first oil-price shock in 1973.
Three major trends challenge this restrictive approach to international
migration: firstly, with the demise of socialism in Central and Eastern
Europe, the barriers to emigration have been removed in an area contain-
ing some 400 million people. These countries possess a well-educated work-
force relative to the traditional source countries of European migration in
South-Eastern Europe (Turkey, former Yugoslavia) and Northern Africa.
Given that per capita income levels are very low ...