Police and migrants in Calais, France. Jey OH photographie/Flickr. Some rights reserved.The last two weeks have seen the continuation of a dual conversation on refugees, one that has been both inclusive and exclusive at the same time. The duality of such discussion is nothing new, indeed across much of Europe sentiments of compassion and responsibility mix with concerns over security, resources and the political rhetoric of the centre and far right. The most recent emergence of this tension has been around the situation of refugees in Calais. On the one hand, advocacy groups, charities and migrants rights movements have all sought to place the supposed ‘crisis’ in a wider context of European migration and look to longer-term solutions for those displaced. On the other, short-term policy fixes that rely on building higher fences, further restricting access to asylum and passing responsibility for refugees between EU states have proved more politically palatable.
Meanwhile, debates within the UK cannot be divorced from the wider European picture, wherein EU foreign and defence ministers continue to discuss plans to address the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. Rather than emphasising the potential contributions of such refugees, these discussions have also been marked by a reluctance to view refugees as anything more than a ‘burden’ to be shared between reluctant hosts.
Whilst immediate responses are sought, in the longer term discussions of regularised routes into Europe for those fleeing conflict are set to be a key political battleground. In a context of deadlock and intransigence from nation-states over their willingness to take part in refugee resettlement, it is notable that the voices of other actors within any possible EU-wide policy have been muted. Perhaps most significant are the voices of those cities which are expected to play a central role in refugee resettlement.
