Challenges of Migration Control in Europe: Perspectives from Dutch Sociologists

“It is very difficult because politics has only limited influence on the influx,” says Hein de Haas, professor of sociology at the UvA and specialized in migration. “It is a complete illusion that you can hermetically close off Europe unless you turn the EU into a kind of North Korea.”

Ruud Koopmans, professor of sociology and migration at Humboldt University in Berlin, agrees that the Netherlands can do little alone, especially as long as we are a member of the EU. He thinks, unlike De Haas, that taking measures at Europe’s external border is a way to limit the influx into the Netherlands. “Then agreements are needed with transit countries, for example in Africa, through which asylum seekers pass on their way to Europe.”

Willing

According to Koopmans, our country should enter into a ‘coalition of the willing’ with other European countries such as Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom. This coalition must then conclude deals with those transit countries.

“These deals should be about taking back rejected asylum seekers and about starting asylum procedures in those countries for people who want to go to Europe. They must then wait for the outcome of the procedure there,” Koopmans said.

Long breath

De Haas doesn’t see that happening anytime soon. He sees more in better agreements on the distribution of refugees within the EU. “But that is a long-term matter, you cannot simply arrange that. We must have a dispersal policy not only within the Netherlands, but also within Europe.”

A much better asylum procedure that is the same in all EU countries could also help, De Haas thinks. “But even then the flow of asylum will increase if a conflict arises somewhere in the vicinity of Europe. Because an asylum stop or something similar as Wilders proposes is completely impossible. If people want to go somewhere, it is very difficult to stop them.”

Almost zero

Koopmans is more hopeful: “Controlling migration is indeed possible. This has been proven in Europe with the Turkey deal in 2016. Within a few weeks of that agreement, the number of asylum seekers who wanted to come to Europe across the Aegean Sea was reduced to almost zero.”

According to him, it is therefore best to stop migration: “The real challenge is to do so in a way that does justice to our international obligations and that is also morally defensible. Stopping migration is not difficult, it is difficult to do it in a humane way.” to do. That is the challenge that the forming parties face.”

2024-01-04 06:52:21
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