From migration to deportation

Edited by Vladan Jeremić

Authors of the texts are Chachipe a.s.b.l., Cornelia Ernst, Andreas Guidi, Lorenz Krmer, Manuela Kropp, Dejan Marković and Anna Striethorst

The publication “From migration to deportation - Contributions to the critical analysis of the policy against Roma migrants in Europe” was produced in frame of the project and round table organised by Roma education creative centre and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe, entitled “Rights of Roma returnees in Serbia − problems, needs and solutions”, which was held from 8th to 11th November 2012 in Belgrade. The photographs were taken in the period from 2009 to 2012, and represent social protests and struggles that took place due to the demolishing of Roma settlements in Belgrade.

The publication in BHS you can download here

For centuries many Roma communities have lived at the economic and social margins. Nowadays, at the European periphery, their position becomes even more precarious due to the consequences of the economic crisis. European Union is intensifying the restrictions against precarious migrant workers and asylum seekers from the war-torn and post war regions and countries. The possibility to reintroduce the visa regime granted to the EU member states is a sanction directed at countries of the periphery, which is justified by a rising number of “illegal migrants” or “false asylum seekers” arriving in EU countries.

The increasing number of assaults on Roma is the consequence of a strengthening and consolidation of right-wing forces using the situation of economic crisis for populist promotion of their racist and anti-migrant agenda. Brutal demolition of Roma and migrant settlements and the following deportations from France in 2010 or the terror against local Roma communities in Hungary by ultra-nationalist formations, usually have support of the state institutions. In Serbia and Bulgaria, organised violent actions against Roma by the majority population are frequent. Extreme poverty, social exclusion and segregation present a situation a large number of Roma in Serbia is living in today.

The aim of the publication “From migration to deportation – Contributions to the critical analysis of the policy against Roma migrants in Europe” is to analyse the above-mentioned questions from the position of the Left, by mapping the legislative frames and analysing political context Roma and other migrants in Europe find themselves in. The focus is on the criticism of forced deportation practices based on the Readmission agreement between Germany and Serbia. The critical analysis of legislative mechanisms of exclusion by the EU bureaucratic apparatus is a prerequisite for identifying and understanding these complicated procedures. Furthermore, this policy of exclusion requires a constructive alternative.

Member of the European Parliament, Cornelia Ernst and political scientist Lorenz Krämer in the article “European Immigration Policy – Too Much of the Same“ emphasize that the issue of the immigrants’ position on the labour market is a suitable fi eld of action for the left . “…Th e goal has to be complete equality between non-European workers and their German-born colleagues. (…) Only when immigrant workers have a right to equal pay, to the same working hours and cannot be blackmailed because of their illegal status, will it be possible to prevent people from being played off against each other. It is only then that immigrants cannot be used for dumping wages or for worsening working conditions. Th us, equal rights in the workplace are a precondition for a liberal immigration law in the positive sense – both on European and national levels. Indeed, the commitment to an open (-minded) Europe which does not barricade itself behind barbed wire and FRONTEX must be refl ected on all levels”.

The text by Manuela Kropp and Anna Striethorst “The Migrations of Roma in the European Union – an Ethnic Minority as Cue Ball of European Politics“, examines the causes of increased Roma migrations within the EU, as well as the political and legal tensions surrounding this issue.

Andreas Guidi’s article “Roma Asylum Seekers in Europe: A Matter of Disintegration of Social Rights”, which was written during his stay in Belgrade as a Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung voluntary researcher, attempts to examine the controversies of the German migration policy, detecting a pattern of social exclusion, with Serbia playing an active part as well. In his case study from Belgrade, he describes how economic dynamics and fi nancial interests affect many Roma families living in New Belgrade, pushing them out of the city, without any possibility of social security, often leaving them with no other option but to leave the country.

The next contribution by the project coordinator of the Roma education creative centre and a political scientist from Belgrade, Dejan Marković, “Readmission and Deportation to Serbia – Readmission of Asylum Seekers who Left the Republic of Serbia in the 90s and Sought Asylum in Western Europe and Scandinavia”, evokes the harsh reality of deportation from Germany and other countries to Serbia.

The article “Serbia: Visa Liberalization at any Price?” by the NGO Chachipe deals with the measures which have been imposed on Serbia as a prerequisite to obtain a liberalization of their visa regime with the EU and to preserve it. The article is focusing on those measures which have a most immediate impact on the population such as the strengthening of border controls and selective travel bans. It shows that these measures are essentially targeting Roma, and that the surrounding discourse has contributed to fuel anti-Roma resentments.

Vladan Jeremić