During the European summit in Seville on June 22-23, 400 migrant workers staged a hunger strike to demand that they be given work permits and the right to stay in Spain. For their pains they were locked in Seville University, while anti-globalisation protestors staged demonstrations in their support.
Mainly because of opposition from Sweden and France, the summit did not adopt the proposals originally put forward by Spain’s Aznar and our own Tony Blair – that countries that refuse to co-operate with the European Union on asylum and immigration should be penalised by cuts in their aid payments.
But there can be no doubt that the walls of Fortress Europe are getting higher all the time. The summit itself laid plans for harmonisation of anti-asylum procedures, for stronger measures to get cases dealt with in the first country in the EU in which someone arrives, and for greater co-operation between border officials.
Most individual states are also introducing more restrictive measures themselves.
None of this will do anything other than give succour to the far-right across Europe, by legitimising their policies and rhetoric.
The way to undercut their growth is not through restrictive asylum policies but rebuilding public services and investing in the polarised communities in which they have sought to develop and base
We say "Fortress Europe – tear it down"! (See inside pp 10-11)