A hysteria on the mass immigration of Rroma from Bulgaria and Romania has broken up in Germany in expectation of the impeding 2014 relaxation on the freedom of movement with those two countries and the EU. A wealth of articles have been published in recent days about the predicted or already happening mass immigration, a selection of which is discussed below. The immigration of people from southeast Europe has become a political issue, as you can see from contradictory statistics and emotionally charged statements. The fear is the potential increase in social spending and benefits for these poorly educated migrants. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the integration minister of North Rhine Westphalia, Guntram Schneider, warned about this issue (Burger 2013). German politicians are now calling Southeast European governments for dedicated steps to better integrate the Rroma.
Reinhard Veser (2013) General of the Frankfurter Zeitung writes about what he sees as a fact that all Roma in Southeast Europe – mainly Romania and Bulgaria – are marginalized and poor, which results in a large migration of Roma to Western Europe. He uses this insight, to call for a clear naming and representation of the “problem.” He states: “It is wrong when, on the debate on poverty immigration from Bulgaria and Romania, those who come are not named. Most of these people are Roma”
In addition to social programs in South East Europe on should help the German cities, which are affected by the poverty driven influx of Rroma, since the efforts to better integrate the Rroma in their countries of origin is not a big success.
Also “die Welt” reported in several articles about the seemingly increasing poverty driven migration of Rroma to Germany. Between 2007 and 2011 the number of migrants from Romania and Bulgaria had increased from 64,000 to 147,000. Most of them are Rroma and were often smuggled by organized traffickers to Germany, from where they would be exploited. As a result they are often forced to earn illegal income working for dumped wages, or in prostitution or begging. Many big cities are overwhelmed by this migration and are crying for help them up as petty crime has increased dramatically and residents start to feel alienated (Von Borstel 2013, Crolly/Frigelj 2013).
The Zurich Rroma Contact Point is amazed at the ability of journalists of recognized newspapers to regurgitate politically generated knowledge uncritically and without any hesitation, presenting it as scientific fact. Recognizing that many Rroma in Southeast Europe are living in poverty and exclusion is certainly to be agreed. But from a massive immigration – even a migration – of Rroma to Western Europe, and to call for dedicated countermeasures is highly problematic. The journalists are simply reproducing once more the common stereotypes about Rroma. They establish a clear link between ethnicity and socio-economic circumstances and thus discriminate against those Rroma who are well integrated and live in total integrity in their home countries. These invisible Rroma, who are not part of the media coverage, are thus made part of one-dimensional representation that portrays Rroma as discriminated economical refugees. That transnational migration requires great courage – leaving family and friends behind – is not addressed any more than the ethnicization a poverty problem.
This problem should be identified as a socio-economic paradigm and not as an ethnic and even less presented as one. Using the latter must inevitably leave one open for accusations of racism. In this regard, Verica Spasovska calls for a committed action of the EU in all Member States (Spasovska 2013).
Even the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung agrees to this chorus of laments on the apparent mass immigration of Southeast Europeans Rroma, resulting in astronomical increases of costs for the Social Department and in the aggravation of social conflicts. The numbers from the statistical office are not questioned at all (Hauser 2013).
It needs to be noted that people, regardless of their origins, are not entitled to social assistance, “if they have not been paid in the social system by having a regular job” (Reichmuth 2013). This fact is not considered at all in the emotional debate.
The Migazin (2013) criticized the numbers of Federal Statistical Office on the immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria as inaccurate. While it is true that 147,000 people had migrated in 2011 from Romania and Bulgaria to Germany, but out of that number, a large amount of people leaving Germany needs to be excluded. If those leavers are taken into account, only 58’350 people from the countries concerned immigrated to Germany, a massively smaller number. In addition, the statistics of the Federal Department included many temporary workers would should not be counted as permanent residents.
Torsten Krauel (2013) is outraged at the apparently special treatment of Roma families in major German cities and calls for the equal treatment of all EU citizens, regardless of ethnicity. Else the “resilience of the state towards the behaviour of some Roma families could be a starting point for anti-European sentiments.” He further postulates a mass immigration of Rroma families to German social services offices, which is “not a God given state of affairs” and always talks of the so-called “Roma issue”. The article emphasizes the diversity of life among Rroma, but pours in his portrayal a collage of stereotypes, tells of Roma kings and draconian force in extended families. He notes:
The Roma families […] live in their own universe. At the same time, they are the freest and least free people of Europe. They consider themselves not bound to any State to law and have no loyalties except to their own […] The world of the Roma is as varied as ours, their values are glamorous or as harsh as before in the Middle Ages – and in some of their extended families [these values] are not compatible with the ideas embodied by the Civil Code. Yes, there are child gangs. Yes, there are criminal clans. And yes, there are also large families that are not noticed by such offences. The latter are potential allies against the excesses [of others].
Although Mr Krauel, in his descriptions of the “Rroma world,” tries to give a differentiated representation of the facts, it is surprising how decisively he represents the “otherness” of the values of the Rroma. The statement “They do not consider themselves bound by any state, law and have no loyalties except their own” is a crass defamation and pretentious ascription of identity to an ethnic group that can only be described as racist. It constructs the Rroma intentionally as the opposite and negation of the so-called loyal and compliant values. The addition of “freedom in its positive aspect” to these statements doesn’t change much to them. He thus assignes Rroma a blanket identity of self-imposed exclusion, whereas in fact, this is a history of foreign exclusion. Mr. Krauel writes that the Rroma value measures are “glamorous and harsh as before in the Middle Ages.” This evolutionary portrayal of the values of the Rroma as an anachronism is deeply patronizing. It defames all those Rroma who are well integrated and live an integer life in European societies. Those invisible Rroma he mentions only marginally. The idea that the majority of Rroma live under the influence of regional Roma kings, can only be deemed totally absurd. At the beginning of the article, Mr. Krauel says that what was happening in German cities is not xenophobia. What he writes in this article, however, is.
The SPD politician Martin Korol (2013) recently published a paper on the “Roma in Bremen” on his webpage. In it he refers to what he deems as a striking increase of the West migration of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma to Bremen. They are coming by families, by whole clans, not for political reasons but “because of the poverty in their country and the opportunity here to live in a warm and dry enough place, to eat to satiation and in case of emergency, to have medical treatment.” Like the majority of German media, he sees the Romanian and Bulgarian Roma as economical refugees. That in itself is not to be condemned. However, there are preposterous statements, now deleted in the newest version, in which he states that Rroma “take their daughters out of school […] to force-wed them,” and that young Rroma men “melt their brains away with adhesive fumes brain away […]. The prospect that each Rrom contributes to GNP or even to his own pension or mine “is” null” (Schirrmeister 2013) Even the current version of the text still has racist statements like, “But it amazes me now that Bremen suddenly discovered its love for Roma, who socially and intellectually still live in the Middle Ages, in an ancient patriarchal society in a way that raises the strongest concern among every party, every church and every association in Germany in general and particularly in Bremen.”
The rest of the text contains a correspondence between Korol and a person responsible for immigration in Bremen. In it, he is annoyed at the blatant disinterest, in his opinion, for the house that he wanted to give for temporary migrants. Korol is actually staging himself as a misunderstood benefactor for immigrants from South-eastern Europe.
The SPD chief of Bremen distanced himself decidedly from Korol’s paper and stated that this position was in no way in line with the social democratic values. Also, the The Rroma Contact Point can only vehemently condemn Korol’s statements and even denounce the malicious defamation that his blog partially contains. That such statements can be made by an SPD politician in Germany is very surprising and offensive.
Sources:
- Burger (2013) Armutsmigration wird zunehmen. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung vom 21.2.2013.
- Crolly, Hannelore / Kristian, Frigelj (2013) Roma in Deutschland – ausgebeutet, illegal, kriminell. In: Die Welt vom 21.2.2013.
- Hauser, Jan (2013) Dortmund rechnet mit Millionenkosten für Roma. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung vom 21.2.2013.
- Korol, Martin (2013) Roma in Bremen. In: http://www.martinkorol.de [22.2.2013]
- Krauel, Torsten (2013) Gleiches Recht für alle in der Roma-Frage! In: Die Welt vom 22.2.2013. http://www.welt.de/113817150
- Migazin (2013) Keine Belege für Armutszuwanderung aus Rumänien und Bulgarien. In: http://www.migazin.de/2013/02/22/keine-belege-fur-armutszuwanderung-aus- bulgarien-und-rumanien/ [22.2.2013].
- Reichmuth, Christop (2013) Angst vor Armutseinwanderung. In: Neue Luzerner Zeitung vom 19.2.2013.
- Schirrmeister (2013) SPD-Abgeordneter hetzt gegen Roma. In: TAZ vom 21.2.2013.
- Spasovska, Verica (2013) Arme Roma – Ein Problem das Europa gemeinsam lösen sollte. In: Deutsche Welle vom 21.2.2013.
- Veser, Reinhard (2013) Armutseinwanderung Roma. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung vom 22.2.2013.
- Von Borstel, Stefan (2013) Roma-Zuwanderung – Großstädte schlagen Alarm. In: Die Welt vom 16.2.2013.
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