Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Scotland welcomes Europe
Three years ago, the British media got itself into an hysterical overdrive about the enlargement of the European Union. Paper after paper, distinguished broadsheets too, not just the usual suspect red-tops and the Daily Mail, got into a dreadful lather about the tsunami of refugees and vagrants they said was due to land on our shores.
The BBC allowed itself to get carried away in similar hysterical tones with news reports that the inclusion of ten new members into the EU Club would clog Britain's health and benefit system; and Johnny Foreigner would take all our jobs.
There is a sensible media outpost in the heart of London - Bush House. Home to the respected World Service. There, European language section chiefs were shaking their heads in disbelief at the ignorance of reporters across the UK who appeared desperate to outflank each other in the numbers game.
Hundreds! Thousands! Hundreds of thousands! Our island nation was about to be "swamped" by hordes of migrants from Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia.
One UK reporter in Poland excitedly showed off buses that were lining up to transport "whole gangs" of Polish migrants who were "dead set" on getting to Britain.
We have a thriving agriculture market in Scotland. Every year, many Poles - and other Europeans - take buses to come here to work in the fields, making money to send home. Or, perhaps more importantly, to take home. They fill a gap that the Scots don't - or won't - fill themselves and they view it as an opportunity to make money. Isn't that just a bit of sensible housekeeping?
Britain's aged railway system is being transformed; not least because of know-how brought in by experts from Romania's rail network.
A sumptious five-star hotel is under construction in Edinburgh. The majority of its labourers are Polish. They work long hours; are friendly; make humorous company; and they plan to go home in the Spring. They are making the most of some of the advantages that the EU brings the Europeans, namely, the ability to cross frontiers freely and work around the Union. Well, around parts of the Union.
Britain was one of only three nations to operate an Open Doors Policy three years ago, saying to the ten new member states - welcome! And so, many Czechs, Hungarians and Lithuanians among others took the British policy-makers at their word. They came; they liked what they saw; they applied for work; and some of them did indeed migrate. For many others, it was only ever going to be short-term, making a wage to take home.
In 2003, there were scandalous reports stating that "hundreds of thousands" of people were amassing ready to "flood Britain". As we discussed much of the coverage over a coffee in Bush House, one journalist commented: "How arrogant of the English to think that we are all so desperate that we want to come here!" Another added: "We have only just got our independence...I want to help my nation grow, not run away to West at the first chance and abandon it."
The East had in any case become part of that West. An extended Club bringing with it undreamt of freedoms for a Continent that ripped itself apart twice in the last Century. Also, it brings problems; and there will of course be those charlatans who try to beat the system and do a dodgy deal to get money for nothing. Oh, by the way, there are some of those in your High Street already, you don't need to import an Eastern European to do that.
Which brings us back to the consistent UK policy of a wider Europe. For more than a decade, there has been a policy to strengthen the EU by enlargement. The cynics will say that's only because by encouraging it to get bigger, it will become even less efficient (wider, not deeper, as some would say). But in the main, that policy has stood Briatin well, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe and now stretching into Turkey.
But the Little Englander mentality is heating up again. This week, the main opposition party in the Westminster Parliament in London is calling for very firmly closed doors when Bulgaria and Romania join the EU next year.
Immigration is always a key Conservative issue, although it has done them no guid at all amongst the electorate in recent years. So, they were back to banging an old drum. Who'll heed that shout?
By the strangest of coincidences ... along pops a junior government minister, and then, gosh! A senior Cabinet Minister to trot out the line that "the Open Door Policy of the past might be inappropriate" for the Bulgarians and the Romanians.
In other words, Britain is preparing to tell its new member citizens they'll have to wait up to seven years before they can enjoy the same rights as those of other former communist states who're already in the EU.
That doesn't seem like an especially warm welcome for people who offer knowledge, skills, talent and a willingness to work hard, often for money that may seem low to the Brits, but is high to the former Soviet citizens and actually buys a lot for their families at home.
Many generations of goodwill have been with the UK because of our own willingness to embrace change and to genuinely welcome immigrants. This could be washed away in an instant with such a selfish and ill-designed rhetoric.
But perhaps we shouldn't waste time on arguing a proposed Westminster policy. The point's been made, but if London wants to continue to pursue it, then so be it.
Foreign policy is a reserved right of HM Government in London; but we have our own Parliament in Edinburgh. A parliament that has tax-varying powers; and a legal right to implement legislation.
We already have a policy that encourages and welcomes immigrants to Scotland. So perhaps it's time to simply shout it a bit louder.
Welcome to Scotland - the land of growth, opportunity and freedom. Aye, and the people aren't too bad either.
Charles Fletcher
charles.fletcher@caledoniamedia.com
Three years ago, the British media got itself into an hysterical overdrive about the enlargement of the European Union. Paper after paper, distinguished broadsheets too, not just the usual suspect red-tops and the Daily Mail, got into a dreadful lather about the tsunami of refugees and vagrants they said was due to land on our shores.
The BBC allowed itself to get carried away in similar hysterical tones with news reports that the inclusion of ten new members into the EU Club would clog Britain's health and benefit system; and Johnny Foreigner would take all our jobs.
There is a sensible media outpost in the heart of London - Bush House. Home to the respected World Service. There, European language section chiefs were shaking their heads in disbelief at the ignorance of reporters across the UK who appeared desperate to outflank each other in the numbers game.
Hundreds! Thousands! Hundreds of thousands! Our island nation was about to be "swamped" by hordes of migrants from Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia.
One UK reporter in Poland excitedly showed off buses that were lining up to transport "whole gangs" of Polish migrants who were "dead set" on getting to Britain.
We have a thriving agriculture market in Scotland. Every year, many Poles - and other Europeans - take buses to come here to work in the fields, making money to send home. Or, perhaps more importantly, to take home. They fill a gap that the Scots don't - or won't - fill themselves and they view it as an opportunity to make money. Isn't that just a bit of sensible housekeeping?
Britain's aged railway system is being transformed; not least because of know-how brought in by experts from Romania's rail network.
A sumptious five-star hotel is under construction in Edinburgh. The majority of its labourers are Polish. They work long hours; are friendly; make humorous company; and they plan to go home in the Spring. They are making the most of some of the advantages that the EU brings the Europeans, namely, the ability to cross frontiers freely and work around the Union. Well, around parts of the Union.
Britain was one of only three nations to operate an Open Doors Policy three years ago, saying to the ten new member states - welcome! And so, many Czechs, Hungarians and Lithuanians among others took the British policy-makers at their word. They came; they liked what they saw; they applied for work; and some of them did indeed migrate. For many others, it was only ever going to be short-term, making a wage to take home.
In 2003, there were scandalous reports stating that "hundreds of thousands" of people were amassing ready to "flood Britain". As we discussed much of the coverage over a coffee in Bush House, one journalist commented: "How arrogant of the English to think that we are all so desperate that we want to come here!" Another added: "We have only just got our independence...I want to help my nation grow, not run away to West at the first chance and abandon it."
The East had in any case become part of that West. An extended Club bringing with it undreamt of freedoms for a Continent that ripped itself apart twice in the last Century. Also, it brings problems; and there will of course be those charlatans who try to beat the system and do a dodgy deal to get money for nothing. Oh, by the way, there are some of those in your High Street already, you don't need to import an Eastern European to do that.
Which brings us back to the consistent UK policy of a wider Europe. For more than a decade, there has been a policy to strengthen the EU by enlargement. The cynics will say that's only because by encouraging it to get bigger, it will become even less efficient (wider, not deeper, as some would say). But in the main, that policy has stood Briatin well, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe and now stretching into Turkey.
But the Little Englander mentality is heating up again. This week, the main opposition party in the Westminster Parliament in London is calling for very firmly closed doors when Bulgaria and Romania join the EU next year.
Immigration is always a key Conservative issue, although it has done them no guid at all amongst the electorate in recent years. So, they were back to banging an old drum. Who'll heed that shout?
By the strangest of coincidences ... along pops a junior government minister, and then, gosh! A senior Cabinet Minister to trot out the line that "the Open Door Policy of the past might be inappropriate" for the Bulgarians and the Romanians.
In other words, Britain is preparing to tell its new member citizens they'll have to wait up to seven years before they can enjoy the same rights as those of other former communist states who're already in the EU.
That doesn't seem like an especially warm welcome for people who offer knowledge, skills, talent and a willingness to work hard, often for money that may seem low to the Brits, but is high to the former Soviet citizens and actually buys a lot for their families at home.
Many generations of goodwill have been with the UK because of our own willingness to embrace change and to genuinely welcome immigrants. This could be washed away in an instant with such a selfish and ill-designed rhetoric.
But perhaps we shouldn't waste time on arguing a proposed Westminster policy. The point's been made, but if London wants to continue to pursue it, then so be it.
Foreign policy is a reserved right of HM Government in London; but we have our own Parliament in Edinburgh. A parliament that has tax-varying powers; and a legal right to implement legislation.
We already have a policy that encourages and welcomes immigrants to Scotland. So perhaps it's time to simply shout it a bit louder.
Welcome to Scotland - the land of growth, opportunity and freedom. Aye, and the people aren't too bad either.
Charles Fletcher
charles.fletcher@caledoniamedia.com
