Since last Friday Austria, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Belgium have announced new border restrictions in response to the refugee crisis. While many politicians hope to reduce the flow of people, critics point to serious humanitarian concerns and to the threat that border controls pose to one of the core principles of the European Union, namely free movement of workers.
Ian Greer, a senior research associate at Cornell's ILR School, studies the political economy of labor and social policy across Europe. He says that this policy will come at a high cost, both humanitarian and economic, and may fan the flames of xenophobic nationalism.
Bio: https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/people/ian-greer
Greer says:
"The European Union is founded on principles of economic freedom, and this includes the free internal movement of workers. With the Schengen agreement, most border controls between member states have been eliminated, making it easier for people to move, or even commute, between countries.
"Accepting hundreds of thousands of refugees will be a game changer for European societies, and Chancellor Merkel's approach of welcoming large numbers of asylum seekers to Germany is a brave one. Predominately Christian towns and neighborhoods will become more diverse. More housing, hospitals, and schools will have to be built. Employers will have a vastly expanded labor pool. It is no surprise that far-right parties have been able to attract votes by stirring up fear.
"The current trend is for countries to build walls and deploy military units at the borders, while refusing entry to certain nationalities. This raises the prospect of vulnerable people stuck in miserable conditions at border crossings, which we already see at Calais. Mainstream politicians want to keep Schengen while restricting migration, but the increasingly xenophobic tone in politics and the acrimony between countries over how to respond make it doubtful that they can do both."
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