"Immigration is endangering European society"

Issue : IMMIGRATION

 

This house believes that immigration is endangering European society.

 

Pin-Point SUMMARY

 

 

Prop.

 

**Mass immigration into European societies, without the appropriate integration of newcomers, is endangering that unique combination of individual liberty and social solidarity.**

1.    There is nothing mystical about the nation-state.

A.     Anyone can join (if invited) so long as they learn the language and respect the traditions of the country.

B.    And a commitment to the nation-state is compatible with internationalism.

2.    But after a long and often bloody pre-history

A.    nation-state is the only institution that can currently deliver what liberals, of both right and left, want: democratic legitimacy for the exercise of power.(safety of citizens, too)

3.    And for the nation-state to work it must entail borders and boundaries and it must "belong" to existing citizens—on important matters they must have special rights over non-citizens.

A.    Immigration does not in itself endanger the European nation, but when it happens very quickly and on a very large scale and when many immigrants choose to live in cultural enclaves it does do so.

B.    That is what has been happening in Europe.

4.    In several European countries the immigrant and ethnic minority population is rising to 15% or 20%

A.    This sudden and largely unplanned demographic shift has damaged trust between citizens and generated segregation, fear and, in some countries, extremism.

 

 

Opp.

 

1.    Unfortunately, some mainstream politicians echo some of their lines:

A.    immigrants are stealing "our" jobs, s

B.    crounging off the state,

C.    threatening "our way of life" and even our security.

2.    If demography is destiny, Europe is in decline.

A.    Were it not for immigration, European society would be shrinking—and over the next decade, its working-age population is set to fall.

B.    Without countervailing measures, an ageing population and shrinking workforce will lead to permanently slower economic growth, crimping living standards and making it harder to pay for the pensions, health care and social care of the growing ranks of elderly people, fund the welfare state in general and service the mountains of public debt.

3.    Immigrants have a lot to contribute to European society because their different attributes tend to complement those of native Europeans.

A.    They are willing to do the jobs that young Europeans balk at, such as picking fruit, cleaning offices or caring for the elderly. They fill skill shortages, for instance in health care.

B.    They are more willing to move to new jobs as circumstances change

4.    The belief that immigrants take locals' jobs is economically illiterate.

A.    Polish builders create new jobs for locals—in supermarkets, at builders' merchants and for interior designers.

B.    Studies find no relation between unemployment rates and the rate or level of immigration in European countries. Nor is there evidence that immigrants depress wages overall.

5.    Immigrants' dynamism and diversity

A.    Migrants tend to be younger, more hard-working and more enterprising than most:

                        i.         newcomers to Britain are twice as likely to start a business as lifelong residents.

B.    And the exceptional people who come up with brilliant new ideas are often migrants: the three UK-based academics who won Nobel prizes last year were all born abroad.