Social inclusion policy - Essay Example

Immigration policies, while developed at the EU or national level, impact social and economic matters at the community level. In May 2003, the EU addressed this issue at the Thessaloniki summit and in June of that year at the Commission’s Communication on Integration (Spencer, 2004). Four years earlier, the EU had proposed the establishment of an ‘area of freedom, security and justice’ that would be in place by May of 2004. Known as the ‘Tampere Programme,’ this plan was designed to initiate the Common European Asylum System.

In November 2004, the ‘Hague Programme’ was agreed to by the EU in order to strengthen the Tampere strategy. This programme outlined wide-ranging goals that extended to 2009. The UK, according to provisions of the EU Treaty, is not required to accept EU directives regarding immigration and asylum. Generally speaking, the UK has rejected all proposals concerning illegal immigration but has accepted the majority of EU directives concerning legal immigration (Local Government International Bureau, 2005).

According to Dick Oosting who heads the EU division of Amnesty International, the attacks by terrorists in the United States on 11 September, 2001 were among the reasons that the EU began to alter its priorities towards support for security issues and away from human rights concerns with regard to immigration. Oosting remarked, “Amnesty has felt this concern since the EU’s individual states began merging some of their immigration policies in 1999” (Lobjakas, 2004). People, even those who are citizens of the EU’s 15 member states, have had to deal with immigration barriers such as the lack of legal qualifications, language difficulties and a growing public resentment.

Those persons from countries outside the EU are more likely to encounter additional hardships in these areas and are in need