THE MIGRATORY WAVE IN EUROPE

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The success of migrants, an example with Finland

With its baffling language and culture of reserve, Finland is not an easy place for outsiders to penetrate. For Nora Farah, the breakthrough came via the dissected brains of dead cows. Ms. Farah, who arrived with her mother in 1993 as a teenager seeking asylum from Somalia’s civil war, spent eight years dreaming of a better life in London while she was taunted at school and bore racist abuse on the streets. But in 2001, working as a lab technician in Helsinki, she found herself charged with testing cow tissue for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease. The work was fulfilling, her colleagues encouraging, and she moved on to bigger challenges. She took on Finnish citizenship, gave birth to a son and last year became the first Somali Finn to publish a novel.

II. Host countries’ point of view

Nowadays, Europe is facing a bad economic situation due to a high level of unemployment and a critical fiscal deficit, and stand a very high social debt level. When the phenomenon of immigration comes in, we wonder how receiving countries can give an added-value to this arrival of migrants, and what their opinions on the topic are.

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A new economic contribution and solidarity above all

As far as economy is concerned, immigration can bring a new strategic and economic contribution. Indeed, when they arrive on the country, the have specific consumption needs (clothing, food) that couldn’t be satisfied right away. This new demand represents a significant added-value for the host countries’ economy. Furthermore, immigration can strengthen the consumption in general and external trade, because they represent a new buying power.

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A decline in economy and a rise of nationalism

Among the negative consequences pointed out by the receiving countries, the fact that immigration could worsen the current bad economic situation that Europe is experiencing, comes first. Indeed, current high unemployment level would not be improved, because migrants coming are also job-seekers. The local population already in a bad financial situation tends to think that migrants may “steal their jobs”. Regarding all the allowances and financial aids allowed to migrants, it obviously will worsen the state of the social debt.

Welcoming migrants is also the meaning of a possibility to face an overpopulation crisis which, in turn, can cause a lack of housing.

III – An issue dividing French people

Firstly, let’s start with the political group which manages our country: the socialist group. According to an article published in “Les Échos” newspaper, our President, François Hollande, found a way to gather all of the left groups. Indeed, the migratory crisis is a subject which joins together throughout the same value and political opinion: humanism. That’s why, our government decided to welcome 30 000 refugees on our territory. This migration will be effective on a period of two years. People to be accepted are Syrians, Iraqis and Eritreans (Eritrea is an African country next to Ethiopia, that gained its independence in 1993). Our President attested that we will only be able to accept refugees and not migrants. But, everybody knows that it’s difficult to separate them in reality.

Secondly, the Republican group is divided concerning this issue. Some people, as Alain JUPPÉ and Jean-Pierre RAFFARIN, agree with our Government concerning the necessity to separate refugees and migrants, because Europe is not able to welcome everybody.

Others politic actors, like Nicolas SARKOZY, would create a reservation center on the borders of Europe to realize a “separation”. Moreover, Mister SARKOZY wants to create a new status for the refugees named “war refugee”. This measurement, if adopted, will generate modifications in all of refugees’ treatment.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, we can say that opinions are divided. From a social and psychological point of view, migrants are facing a very difficult situation and sometimes have to make the hardest decision of their live: to survive in the country they love and where they grown, sometimes at the cost of their lives, or fighting anywhere to have better living conditions. We also saw the differences between the two terms of “refugee” and “migrant”, which have lots of consequence on integration and allowances, and the image to the population. From the States’ point of view, the arrival of migrants brings economic and cultural added values, but also creates divisions of ideas and opinions. The most significant issue remains in the fact that inhabitants of host countries don’t all accept the integration of migrants. A conflict exists between the values of the Republic and the economic current situation which is not in favor of the migrant’s welcoming. Consequently, French political parties are divided.