European Policy Analysis Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2016 | Page 12

Refugees and Migration in Europe

subsidies from Brussels which were
meant to put pressure on. In the case
of Poland, the EU hopes to have more
success. Poland needs the EU much
more than Hungary with its many
Right-wing populist and neo-Fascist
groups, and, moreover, the country has
a greater pro-European proportion in
its population as recent rallies against
the conservative government in Warsaw
showed.

have taken part in since 2005. Until
2013, the largest group to take part in
integration courses was Polish migrants.
However, there are increasingly more
participants of Arab origin (Der Spiegel
Nr.1 2016,30).
3) Cutting down social subsidies
for immigrants. Even in Germany,
leading Sozialdemokratische Partei
Deutschland (SPD) politicians, such
as Andrea Nahles and Olaf Scholz,
not to mention the CSU, are in favor
of restricting social subsidies which
should be dependent on wages and
contributions of the refugees at least for
one year; Britain even demands a fouryear period. The problem is, however,
that in the past year only about 10%
of asylum seekers in Germany have
found employment. Even the German
Constitutional Court was criticized
by some scholars for claiming that the
social benefits for asylum seekers are
too low (Müller 2015, 8). There is also
contention about the question whether
asylum seekers have the right to invite
their families to join them in Europe.

2) The tendency to leave the European
Community is becoming a major issue
in some countries, such as Britain.
In order to avoid a British exit, called
“Brexit,” the EU has to offer some
concessions, such as
• the exemption of immigrants from
social transfers for several years
• the preservation of national
sovereignty and abandoning closer
European
• policies, and guarantees for the
preservation of national states
• de-bureaucratization
and
liberalization of commerce.

4) A new law of integration is
increasingly
demanded,
which
Chancellor Schröderhad already tried
to introduce in 2005.

Conclusions

I

ntegration policies increasingly aim at
four areas:

The immigration policies have
1) To limit the number of refugees
changed
the ideological European climate
per year. In Germany, the Bavarian
Christian Social Union (CSU) has asked in several respects:
for a limit of 200,000. These limits are
1) The development toward less state
differentiated from fixed quotas for all
intervention will change into more
European countries.
commitment of states in immigration
policies and questions connected with
2) Furthering integration courses which
them. Increasing violence against the
one million immigrants in Germany
homes of asylum seekers requires
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