Tale of Two Cities

15 October 2004


Rome and Madrid Treat Immigrants Differently

Between them, Italy and Spain account for 2/3 of all the immigrants entering the European Union. Both have aging populations and declining birth rates among the native-born populations. This creates a pension and medical care time bomb for both. Yet, in their approach to immigration from outside the EU, they couldn’t be any different. In the end, one of the approaches will be thoroughly discredited, and there is much for other nations with the same demographic problems to learn.

The Italian government has decided that immigrants are largely a problem. Undocumented, or as the government calls them “illegal,” immigrants are being deported without any sort of hearing in many cases. This violates international treaties on refugees. Detention camps in Libya have been set up to cope with those being returned to Africa, most of whom aren’t Libyan. “If they’re black, send ‘em back” seems to be the policy of the Berlusconi government.

At the western end of the Mediterranean, the Spaniards are rolling out the welcome mat for immigrants. With an estimated 1 million illegals in the country, Spain’s new government has announced a plan to hand out hundreds of thousands of work permits to those who can prove they have work. Rafael Pujol, a professor at the Instituto de Empresa (a Madrid business college) said in an interview with the Financial Times, “I don’t fear an avalanche of immigrants, I fear that we will not have enough. We need them because out ageing population will leave big gaps in the labour market.”

For the Italian government, the policy drives up costs in policing their coast and in shipping unwanted humans back home. For the Spaniards, there is a cost in providing services to the legalized workers that may be completely off-set by increased tax revenues. The Italians are sending potential consumers home. The Spanish banks have already set up money transfer outlets to allow immigrants to send cash home, and as Amadeo Font of Banco Popular notes, “An immigrant starts by sending money back more, but after four or five years, he will want a mortgage, home insurance, revolving consumer credit – just like any other Spaniard.”

In fairness to Italy, a great many of Spain’s new immigrants are from Latin America. Because of culture, language and history, the integration of these immigrants will be much easier for Spain socially. The facts will be known in a decade or two, but a betting man has to like Spain’s future much more than Italy’s.

© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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