THE BEGINNING of 1997 was marked by a story that exposed the thoroughly reactionary naof the EU's "Fortress ture Europe" policy.
Over 300 migrants from South Asia were forced at gunpoint on to a boat that was then rammed by the boat that was smuggling them into Greece, killing nearly all of them. Though this massacre was widely known throughout the media, it hardly got a mention.
Almost exactly a year later, the arrival in Italy of around 1,200 migrants, mainly Kurds from Turkey and Iraq, threatened to bring about the collapse of the 1985 Schengen Agreement, the cornerstone of Fortress Europe. Unfortunately it has threatened to collapse into an even more reactionary nationalism.
Schengen has 3 central points. Firstly, the free movement of people within the European Union. Secondly, a common policy of policing the borders of Fortress Europe. Finally it establishes what Paul McGowan In Tony Blair's crusade to make Britain meet the Maastricht convergence criteria, he has reduced public spending even below the Tories' limits.
He has targeted the social security bill for particularly large savings. Although Britain spends less on it than i7 other industrial.
ised nations, he tels us me car no longer afford it.
Despite paying higher taxes and national insurance contributions than ever, the working class is receiving less and less from the Welfare State.
'Affluence tests' already force the better paid to spend their savings on student fees or their parents' care in old age. Now Blair is removing their right to the few remaining benefits they are still entitled to.
New Labour claims it is targeting welfare to the poor, but it is obviously allocating less resources excluding the £3.5 billion for the Welfare to Work programme. Most of this money will go to providers of options on New Deal and not the young unemployed on the scheme.
However, according to Blair tens of thousands of new jobs will be created through Welfare to Work and the unemployed filling these vacancies will be lifted out of the poverty is a de facto European-wide police force.
Whilst Britain has not signed the Schengen Agreement, it has agreed to co-operate with the creation of European-wide security measure,s and has increasingly moved to adopt the most reactionary aspects of immigration policy of each member state of the EU.
The only aspect of the agreement. that has not been implemented in Britain is the abolition of border checks on people travelling from other EU countries.
Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro in his new year message stated that "Italy's arms are wide open to genuine refugees". Whilst this statement is not exactly true, there is no law in Italy to deport asylum seekers: immigrants can be served with an order to leave the country within 15 days.
Various Schengen signatories have seem this as a breach in Fortress Europe. As a result France, Germany and Austria have re-established controls on the Italian border, and enormous pressure has FORTHE UNEMPLOYED trap. Who is he kidding?
At the most it is expected 40,000 of the 100,000 youth initially employed for six months on New Deal will be offered a job placing.
Yet there is no guarantee that a youth working six months for a boss on as little as his or her lobseekers Allowance will be offered a permanent job at the end of it. Even if they get a job, it doesn't mean it will be on decent wages - New Labour is unlikely to allow a minimum wage for under 25s.
Without New Deal it has been estimated the same number of been brought to bear on Italy and Greece to tighten up their external border controls.
Turkey has been put under pressure to prevent Kurds fleeing the country - rather than to end their persecution of Kurds. The Turkish government is attempting to use the tightening up of its controls as a bargaining chip for admittance into the EU.
The German government has been at the forefront of opposition to immigration into Greece and Italy. The Right wing German interior minister Manfred Kanther called on Europe to see itself as a "security community" in the face of what he called "this threatening situation".
With elections this year in Germany the Social Democrats have been competing with the Christian Democrats to be the toughest on immigration and law and order, and have called for ditching the Schengen agreement until Greece and Italy come into line.
French foreign minister Hubert Verdine summed the situation up • FORTHEUNEMPLOVED youth would have found jobs (possi bly with the same employers) within six months anyway - and they probably would have received better money than the pittance they will receive under it.
A recent London School of Economics study shows such employer subsidy schemes are less successful than employee subsidy schemes in creating jobs.
Youth would be more likely to stay with a New Deal employer if they saw a greater reward.
Despite New Deal the Bank of England predicts rising unemployOutside looking in: Kurdish refugees from Turkish government repression. "The EU should do everything possible to have a co-ordinated, homogeneous position... When there is mass immigration, the principles should be different to those in daytoday immigration."
In fact the idea of mass immigration is a myth: immigration into Europe is far lower than to many other parts of the world. People in Britain however, should be well used to right wing agitation about being "swamped by aliens" as a means to whip up racism.
Anti-racists have consistently argued that the Schengen agreement would be used to create a common immigration policy based on the worst aspect of each particular ment with a slow down in the economy later this year. When the employer subsidies dry up, many youth will be dumped back on the dole queue. It won't be a quick fix for Blair in his efforts to reduce welfare spending. Welfare to Work is the government's big effort to alleviate the twin evils of unemployment and poverty in their term of office It won't work and al be a massive waste of nones ane se aeros s young recor Your not or se lem le empicymere socor mil se either competec = mon tr i voluncary organisator. on i environmenta Isk ora (doing work r sore areas simiar to corrunito service study for a Visit eve:
or lose their sore -estate exciting choices.
Athout specaist ner wil se given to about 10 per cere si se youth involved who have maor problems like tearing difficuites.
criminal records and so on. me musi ask if the government will change the policies (such as schradi excu sions, section || cuts. tough sentencing, etc • which made them 'unemptoyabie in the first place.
Now New Labour's economic experts have realised there are half member state. What we are seeing now is the most concerted efforts to bring into line those states who's laws are not sufficiently racist for the rest of the EU.
Whilst the left has begun to address questions such as unemployment and the working week on a Europe-wide level, it has yet to really take up the question of racism in any significant way.
This current crisis in the Schengen agreement should make it absolutely clear to anti-racists throughout Europe that to really challenge racist laws in one country, we need to link up with those struggling against racism throughout the whole continent. as many youth unemployed over six months as they earlier predicted, they have decided at the last minute to rope lone parents and other unemployed age groups into Welfare to Work. Blair is getting rid of universal welfare and replacing it with universal workfare.
Revulsion
Blair should be made to work for the benefit of the community. Public revulsion and a backbench revolt greeted his cuts for lone parents, and the level of opposition now emerging to his plans to reform the mefare stace was unthinkable six -roug the Welfare State Network ocal campaigning groups and se apour movement we should de are the government introduce ater-acre policies to reduce unemsoment and poverty.
ere need a decent minimum ezge, a shorter working week, and ar expanding public sector. We shouid demand better pensions for the elderty, higher benefits for the victims of capitalist slumps and greater help for lone parents, the sick and disabled.
The bosses can well afford it, and should pay for it through increased taxes. The Welfare State should again redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor and provide rea opportunities for the working class