with Bieber’s power-sharing concept, whereby the extent to which each group shares power and exercises parliamentary, governmental, and veto-sharing rights be embedded in the state’s constitution. However, issues may remain on the social front around integration of minority and “other” groups into the welfare system, education system, and labour market in particular.
VVLabour interests are one of the main motivations for the bipolarization of political parties in Europe. In recent years, observers have noted a “repetition on the right of a development that first occurred on the left – a development destined to shape not just political fortunes in Europe but also its party systems”35; “far-right political parties campaigning on ethnic issues”36 became more outspoken as they gained support.
VVThere are many benefits to the EU on paper, particularly as a state pursues accession and adopts the Copenhagen Criteria, but once they have joined, the EU has far less power in conducting the internal sovereign affairs of its member states. The policy of free movement within the Schengen Area facilitates the efforts of individuals who wanted to leave their country for a more prosperous EU country, a phenomenon which when it occurred en masse, has resulted in increased opportunity for ethnically motivated frustrations and scapegoat tactics to take place37. The common reference to a “Polish plumber” alludes to this idea – particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland, migrants from Eastern Europe take the roles of manual labour workers as they move within the Schengen Area38, an observation that is used in two ways: to chastise migrant populations for occupying the lower tiers of society, and in somewhat of a contradiction, for ‘stealing’ the jobs of domestic workers who work in the trades. These sentiments have also been raised in Greece, and are a primary factor in light of the economic crisis in the country; a further analysis of Greece (as well as Hungary) will follow
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35. Bale 2003, p.68
36. Strabac et al. 2012, p.460
37. Ibid. p.461
38. Grossman and Woll 2011