Socio-Economic-Political Implication of Immigration Crisis

Since the start of civil war in Syrian in 2011, over millions of refugees have immigrated
to Europe in search of stable and safe life. Citizens of Syria have been subjected to
extreme torture, chemical attacks and repeated violence. They are stuck between
Assad regime and religious extremist groups. Due to this situation, Syrian people have
lost hope that their situation will be getting any better anytime soon so they are
migrating towards European countries.

Most of the refugees have taken the sea route to reach Europe and thereby a lot of
migrants have died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Due to geographical location,
Italy and Greece have taken refugees in huge numbers. The EU law suggests that a
refuges should file application in the first country that they enter and therefore most of
the border countries in Europe are overburdened by the influx of refugees. German
chancellor Angela Merkel have floated a ‘open door policy’ for the refugees and they
have taken maximum number of migrants. But, Germany have been critical of other
nations such as France and Britain due to their aversion towards immigrants. Greece,
Sweden, Italy and other bordering nations have urged EU for more uniform distribution
of refugees and requested wealthier northern countries to be more open towards
immigrants.

Economic Aspect of Immigration Crisis

European countries with huge number of immigrants have to spent a lot on medical
needs of refugees that can pose a huge burden on these countries. Although, these
immigrants can contribute to the progress of European nations by entering labor
markets. This will depend largely on the kind of education they have had in their native
countries, whether they have the skills to do the work in Europe. It could be a case
where qualifications gained by immigrants might be obsolete in European country. A big
hurdle in the integration of refugees in the European labor market could also be
language barrier. If large number of refugees can enter the labor market in European
countries and can contribute to economic growth, then the long term economic growth
can offset the current burden of their medical and educational needs. For this to
happen, host countries like Germany and Sweden need to organize programs for
refugees to bridge the language barrier and provide them with basis skills required to
enter their labor market. However, most of the citizens of the native countries might be
worried about how new immigrants can pose a threat to their jobs. Due to this,
European countries will have tough time in integrating the new immigrants in their
society.

Social aspect of Immigration Crisis

Another major problem that Europe is facing currently is problem of ageing. Their
pension and healthcare systems are facing an arduous task of providing services to
huge number of retirees. Successful integration of immigrants in these countries can
solve this problem for the policymakers of these countries as most of the refugees that
are immigrating will be younger and can slow down the rate of ageing. But there is a
downside to this scenario. Since, most of the Syrian immigrants will be Muslims and
birth rates of Muslims are higher, there might be a case that after a time period
immigrant population might overtake the native population. Apart from that, there is also
a perception that as the influx of immigrants rise there will be an increase in crime rates
in the native European nations. This can lead to the breakdown of the social systems in
European countries. But as most of the refugees are entering the Europe in search of
safe and stable life, it can be argued that they will be more inclined to live peacefully
rather than creating chaos. If this happen then they might strengthen the social
framework of European nations rather than destroying them.

Political aspect of Immigration Crisis

One of the major challenge in handling Immigration crisis is political in nature. There
has been huge discontentment among the native citizens regarding the way
government of their respective countries has dealt with the situation. This situation has
given rise to xenophobia and anti-EU sentiments. There has been significant rise in far-
right and populist political parties all over European Union. Angela Merkel who is a
staunch supporter of immigrants have seen her approval rating taking a hit. Most of the
native population is worried about their jobs being taken away by immigrants and usage
of taxpayer’s money in funding refugee camps. Countries like Greece who were deep in
economic crisis have taken huge number of immigrants which put further burden burden
on their economy. Far-right Freedom party in Austria and Independence party in UK
have suddenly risen to popularity due to their support to anti-immigrant and anti-refugee
policies. In UK, far-right elements have played a major role in voting out UK from EU
during Brexit referendum. According to leave campaigners, UK needed to regain control
over their economy from refugees and this sentiment played a major role during Brexit.
So, the negative development in the political scenario of European nations is one of the
major problems of this immigration crisis.

Conclusion
It is very vital that governments communicate economic and social benefits of accepting
refugees in their countries. European population is worried about their jobs being lost to
immigrants or there could be rise in terrorism in due to influx of Muslim immigrants.
Government needs to allay such fears by propagating the long term economic benefits
and how integrating young immigrants in their workforce can solve their problem of
ageing. Governments needs to convince their native citizens that accepting refugees is
not an economic burden but an opportunity in the longer run. Whole EU will have to
come together in accepting the refugees. Disproportionate influx of immigrants has put
a lot of burden on some of the border countries so it is very vital that northern rich
countries play their part in this situation, only then can problem of immigration crisis can
be solved.