Internationella nyheter och lästips

Frankrike

Inrikesminister Claude Gueant har flaggat för förändringar av migrationspolitiken så att färre ska komma till landet.

“It’s easier for immigrants to integrate if there are less of them,” Gueant told Europe 1 radio. “It’s obvious that we need to better manage the flow of immigrants. For immigration to work, we need to be welcoming fewer immigrants each year.”

Among the measures “for better management of the flow of immigrants” announced by Gueant are a toughening of the conditions necessary to obtain French citizenship and of the rules allowing an immigrant living in France to be joined by family members.

Other measures include increasing the number of expulsions of illegal immigrants and increasing the capacity of detention centres.

Se även artikel från The Connexion.

Danmark

Antalet personer som får permanent uppehållstillstånd i Danmark har sjunkit med 70 procent till 525 fram till och med september i år.

According to Berlingske newspaper, the fall in approved applications coincides with the introduction of the point system that was introduced by the former Venstre and Konservative government with support from Danske Folkeparti (DF).

The point system tightened the requirements needed to be granted permanent residency, with higher demands on factors such as language and job skills.

Speaking to Berlingske, Peter Skaarup from DF said that the point system was not designed to reduce the number of people being granted permanent residency.

Despite these unintended consequences, Inger Støjberg, the immigration spokesperson for Venstre, argued that the point system had not backfired.

“The point was to attract immigrants to Denmark who could contribute to society and the numbers clearly show that many immigrants haven’t fulfilled the requirements.”

Kanada

Ottawa Citizen har skrivit en hel serie artiklar om hur domstolarna bedömer asylansökningar, där det bland annat visar sig att domarnas partitillhörighet verkar påverka om en asylsökande får stanna eller får avslag och utvisas.

Federal Court of Canada judges appointed by Conservatives are significantly less likely to overturn decisions by government officers and tribunals to deny refugee claims or deport non-citizens than are judges appointed by past Liberal administrations.

And an applicant’s likelihood of success diminishes even further if the appeal or review of their case is heard by judges named to the court in the past three years by Stephen Harper.

Finland

Fler positiva till invandring i Finland.

Finnish attitudes toward immigration have eased considerably from what they were a year ago, even though voices opposed to immigration have featured prominently on online discussion boards and in other public media.

According to a poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by TNS Gallup, 44 per cent of Finns feel that more immigrants should be taken into Finland. An equal number are opposed to more immigration.

Last year six out of ten were against taking in more immigrants. That poll was taken at a time when Finland was recovering from the sharp recession of 2009 when GDP declined by more than eight per cent.