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Dispute Over Immigration Widens Between Britain and E.U. Dispute Over Immigration Widens Between Britain and E.U.
(about 9 hours later)
LONDON — A rancorous dispute between Britain and the European Union threatened to intensify on Wednesday after Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to rewrite the rules governing immigrants’ access to state benefits ahead of a possible influx of Romanians and Bulgarians under longstanding European protocols. LONDON — Responding to political pressure from his right and public fears about an influx of Romanians and Bulgarians early next year, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said on Wednesday that he would restrict state benefits for European Union migrants, including a ban on housing subsidies for new arrivals and sharp limits on unemployment compensation.
Mr. Cameron also said he would seek changes to one of the fundamental principles of the 28-nation bloc — the free movement of people across its internal frontiers — as part of efforts to negotiate what he called a “new settlement” with Europe. Mr. Cameron has pledged to put Britain’s membership in the European Union to a referendum if he wins the next election in 2015. Mr. Cameron also said that Britain would deport European Union migrants found to be begging or sleeping outside, barring them from re-entry for 12 months, a clear if unspecific reference to public anxieties, fed by politicians, about Roma, or Gypsies, pouring into Britain.
His remarks, seemingly meant to counter right-wing challenges at home and complaints within his own party ranks, drew a sharp riposte from a senior official in Brussels, who accused Britain of “hysteria” and of unilateral actions and rhetoric that risked “presenting the U.K. as the kind of nasty country in the European Union.” Mr. Cameron’s plan, which has the support of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats, drew stinging criticism from Brussels, where Laszlo Andor of Hungary, the European Commission’s employment chief, called it an “unfortunate overreaction” that could cause hysteria. The plans, he added, “risk presenting the U.K. as the nasty country in the European Union.”
The language had particular resonance here as foes of Mr. Cameron’s Conservative Party sometimes label it the “nasty” party. But Mr. Cameron appears determined to appeal to those in Britain who would like a more distant relationship with the European Union or who would like to leave it altogether. And his comments are another indication that the issue of immigration, at a time when Britons are worried about joblessness and making ends meet, is the third rail of British politics, wrapped up in larger fears about Britain’s place in Europe and the world.
“This is an unfortunate overreaction,” Laszlo Andor, the European Union’s employment commissioner, told the BBC. “We have been in dialogue with the British authorities in recent years. We always encouraged a fact-based debate about the current movement of workers and the implications and it seems it is not happening now.” The specific trigger for Mr. Cameron’s announcement, which he explained in an article published in The Financial Times, is a change in European Union rules taking effect Jan. 1. On that date, citizens of Romania and Bulgaria will be allowed equal rights to work in any country in the European Union, including Britain, without a special work permit.
“The British public has not been given all the truth and the full truth about this subject. So we would need a more accurate presentation of the reality, not under pressure, not under such hysteria, which sometimes happens in the U.K.,” he said. “I know many people are deeply concerned about the impact that could have on our country,” Mr. Cameron wrote. “I share those concerns.” He accused the previous Labour Party government of mismanaging immigration and said he would work with other European Union leaders to make it harder from citizens of low-income member countries to relocate to richer ones and compete for jobs or qualify for state benefits.
“The unilateral action, unilateral rhetoric, especially if it is happening at this time, is not really helpful because it risks presenting the U.K. as the kind of nasty country in the European Union. We don’t want that. We have to look into the situation collectively and if there are real problems react proportionately,” Mr. Andor said. It is doubtful that Mr. Cameron would succeed in getting the qualified majority he would need among other member countries to change current laws and regulations, but he is campaigning for the May 2015 election on a pledge to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union and then offer Britons a referendum on whether to continue membership.
In January, transitional limits on the cross-border movements of Bulgarians and Romanians are scheduled to end, permitting citizens of those countries access to Britain to seek work — a prospect that has alarmed many Britons who fear the cost of what is sometimes called “benefit tourism” by nationals of other European countries. Mr. Cameron’s statements are an indication of the way that anti-immigration parties like the United Kingdom Independence Party are pushing mainstream politics to the right — a phenomenon also visible in France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece.
In an article in The Financial Times, Mr. Cameron said he would seek legislation to prevent new immigrants from drawing unemployment benefits for three months after their arrival and to limit their eligibility for such benefits to a period of six months thereafter. Mr. Cameron’s pledge reflected demands within his Conservative Party — the dominant partner of the governing coalition — to extend limits on Bulgarian and Romanian immigration until 2018. It is difficult to go far enough right to satisfy those supporters, as former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France discovered when he failed to secure enough votes from the right-wing National Front to win re-election in May 2012. But policies aimed at Roma migrants are as tough in France under its Socialist president, François Hollande, as they were under Mr. Sarkozy.
His suggestions also reflected the pull of the smaller, right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party, which has drawn support away from the Conservatives by seeking far stronger controls on immigration — an issue that has been contentious here since an influx of Polish workers after their country joined the European Union in 2004. On Wednesday, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, Nigel Farage, was dismissive of Mr. Cameron’s plan. “It doesn’t sound very tough to me, because under his proposals somebody can come here Jan. 1 from Romania and within 12 weeks be entitled to unemployment benefits,” he told the BBC. “I think that’s outrageous. I would say we are still being far too generous.”
Mr. Cameron’s remarks seemed likely to create new strains with the European Union if the measures he proposes are viewed as discriminatory. The opposition Labour Party has also tried to look tough on immigration. The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said on Wednesday that Mr. Cameron was “flailing around” with his proposals and in fact was “playing catch-up” with tough Labour proposals to make the test proving British residency “stronger and clearer.”
Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 but the access of their citizens to jobs and residence in some other countries was limited by a three-stage restriction that is to expire on Dec. 31. Alastair Campbell, former spokesman for Tony Blair, the Labour prime minister, said, “The tone on immigration is ugly.” Mr. Cameron is only feeding support to the United Kingdom Independence Party, not diminishing it, he said. “We have to be really careful not to be driven by a fleeting spasm of public opinion. When all parties feed the idea that it’s going to be big, it makes it seem so.”
“We are changing the rules so that no one can come to this country and expect to get out-of-work benefits immediately; we will not pay them for the first three months,” Mr. Cameron said in the article in The Financial Times. Even Mr. Clegg of the Liberal Democrats has warned the Roma already in Britain not to “behave in a way that people find sometimes intimidating, sometimes offensive.” He continued, “We have every right to say if you are in Britain and you are coming to live in Britain and you are bringing up a family here, you have got to be sensitive to the way that life is lived in this country.”
“If after three months an E.U. national needs benefits — we will no longer pay these indefinitely. They will only be able to claim for a maximum of six months unless they can prove they have a genuine prospect of employment. We are also toughening up the test which migrants who want to claim benefits must undergo,” he said. Mr. Clegg was responding to comments from David Blunkett, a legislator and former Labour home secretary who criticized Roma in Sheffield, his hometown, for behaving as if in a “downtrodden village or woodland.” Mr. Blunkett said the numbers of Roma in Britain were underestimated, and added, “We have got to change the behavior and culture of the incoming Roma community, because there’s going to be an explosion otherwise.”
He also said that new immigrants would not be able to claim help from the state for housing and that homeless immigrants would be deported. To the distress of the strong anti-Europe faction in the Conservative Party, which has urged Mr. Cameron in vain to flout European Union law, studies have shown that new immigrants to Britain have brought economic benefits and have been net contributors to tax revenues, not a cost to the state. But some immigrants are bound to be taking jobs that might otherwise go to Britons. According to news reports, Home Secretary Theresa May is said to be delaying a report on the costs and benefits of the free movement of people within the European Union due to be published by year-end because so far there is little evidence that immigrants are abusing the benefits system or placing an excessive burden on welfare and public services, including the National Health Service.
“They will then be barred from re-entry for 12 months, unless they can prove they have a proper reason to be here, such as a job,” he said. He added that employers who pay less than the minimum wage could be fined the equivalent of up to $32,000. According to Mr. Campbell, the health service would fall apart without immigrant workers and he said that during a recent hospital visit, he was cared for by people from 17 nationalities.
While the free movement of goods and people is one of the cornerstones of the European Union, Mr. Cameron said: “We need to face the fact that free movement has become a trigger for vast population movements caused by huge disparities in income. That is extracting talent out of countries that need to retain their best people and placing pressure on communities.” Mircea Geoana, a former president of the Romanian Senate and a former ambassador to Washington, said, “Concerns over illegal migration and access to social benefits are legitimate.” But “no one can deny the huge contribution brought by the enlargement of the E.U. to include central and southeast Europe,” he said. “Opening up E.U. treaties to a ‘pick and choose’ approach is an unacceptable risk, leading to a European legal jungle, and should be opposed vigorously by all political, diplomatic and legal means.”
“It is time for a new settlement which recognizes that free movement is a central principle of the E.U., but it cannot be a completely unqualified one,” he said, citing concerns in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands about the impact of immigrant labor within the European Union. Konstantin Dimitrov, Bulgaria’s ambassador to Britain, estimated that 8,000 to 10,000 Bulgarians would come to Britain per year. He noted that Bulgarians and Romanians had been able to enter Britain freely since 2007 and that they were “well aware of the current restrictive regime on the access to social benefits” like work permits and child support.
Mr. Cameron’s suggestions won support from the other party in the coalition, the Liberal Democrats, whose leader, Nick Clegg, called them “sensible and reasonable reforms to ensure that the right to work does not automatically mean the right to claim” benefits. But Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, called them absurd, and the opposition Labour Party described them as a sign that Mr. Cameron’s party was “flailing around” in search of a coherent policy. But Mr. Dimitrov attacked the political tone. “The anti-Bulgarian campaign is really unacceptable, it’s defamatory, it insults our national dignity,” he said. “We believe that these sentiments do not reflect prevalent mainstream attitudes of people who are generally tolerant and civilized people.”
In May, the European Commission launched a legal challenge against Britain’s tight criteria for residency benefits, which differ from a Europe-wide standard. As a result, it charged, Britain has denied child support and other benefits to “potentially tens of thousands” of foreign citizens.