As the ’grand old man’ of EU integration, Jacques Delors, said of the EU leaders in a recent interview: ’History will judge them harshly’. He also fervently wished for more integration and less focus on short-term damage control. But does this new focus on a common EU migration policy qualify as ‘something on the platter’ as the former Commission chief so pithily put it? Or is it rather ‘the fear of the others’ that Mr. Delors so pointedly noted, while also raising the worrying prospects of the 1930s?
That, of course, remains to be seen, but migration is hardly a winning issue in a time of economic hardship. Furthermore, one must find it more than a tad ironic, that it falls to the Danish presidency to try and coordinate such efforts, as the Danes have opted out of anything resembling a common EU policy on this issue, and several prominent Danish politicians have quite vociferously denounced any moves in this direction. Just remember last year’s spat over the Danish move to increase its border control on the Danish-German border. Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, probably wish that her chance to play on her international experience did not involve such a divisive topic. On top of this, the Danes have already been put in a difficult dilemma, as they may have to preside over an EU boycott of the Faeroe Islands (part of the Danish Kingdom, but outside the EU) due to disagreements over fishing quotas in the Atlantic. Ms. Thorning-Schmidt’s governing coalition is not exactly soaring in the polls and is divided in its view on immigration, an issue which was instrumental in keeping the former centre-right governments under Anders Fogh Rasmussen in power throughout the 2000s.
We should not, however, view migration as entirely isolated from measures to deal with the current economic crisis. The recent pressures on Greece to tighten up its border control will hardly be feasible without outside support. Paradoxically, the Greeks are also being lambasted for building a border fence towards Turkey.
The Danish presidency proclaimed that solidarity would be important in a new migration policy, but was very vague as to what that would entail. While waving the, by now, rather faded red banner of solidarity, the Danes rejected notions to change the Dublin aggreement. Since they also rejected ideas of a common EU asylum system or process, the solidarity claim seems to rest on no more than a half-hearted promise of some extra EU funds for border states, perhaps by beefing up Frontex.
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