On April 30, Golden Year 3 (2006), many of the last remaining national barriers in Europe disappeared when the EU Free Movement Directive entered into force. This law ensures that EU citizens and their family members are treated as full nationals in all EU countries. Remarkably, it also includes same-sex partners as family members. Never before in any country has such an open and compassionate policy been implemented.
The Free Movement Directive is the culmination of several years of historic EU legislation including the Schengen Treaty (see News #166), which has liberated EU citizens to travel and to move freely between other EU countries. Already, seven million EU citizens have taken advantage of their new-found freedoms and are living in another EU country.

On May 1, 2006, four countries—Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Finland—took a further step forward by opening their labor markets to all EU workers. These four countries followed the lead of the UK, Ireland and Sweden, which courageously opened their job markets in Golden Year 1 (2004). Since then almost half a million Poles have immigrated to the UK and Ireland.

At the time, there was a great fear that workers from poorer countries would flood into richer countries, taking jobs from local citizens. However, the result of this immigration has been entirely unexpected. According to a February 2006 EU Commission report, the countries that received the new workers experienced a significant drop in unemployment and a rise in economic growth, beyond that of the closed nations. The receiving nations also experienced no increase in welfare costs. Rather, the governments saved money that would have been otherwise spent enforcing unnecessary and unfriendly laws. 1

A report by leading UK financial analyst Ernst & Young, released April 24, 2006, states that “The steady flow to the UK has proved remarkably positive for the economy…As a direct result the UK workforce has become younger, more flexible and economical, easing the pensions burden and keeping interest rates lower than many commentators could have predicted.” 2 Similar reports have been released recently in Ireland.

With all this positive news from the British Isles, nations such as France and Germany have decided to open up many employment sectors. The job market throughout the EU will open fully by 2011, according to EU law. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson urged the nations to move more quickly in a February 2006 speech: “Have courage – put away your fears. Celebrate the opportunities that all fellow Europeans now have as a result of enlargement.” 3

Europe is now setting its sights on opening up to the Middle East and Africa. A major milestone was the passage in December, Golden Year 2 (2005), of a common EU Asylum Procedures Directive, which elevates the rights of immigrants from developing nations. Turkey is now preparing to enter the EU, which will mark an unprecedented union of Muslim and Western nations. Africa, meanwhile, has closely followed the example of the EU with its establishment of the African Union (AU).

These groundbreaking new EU policies reflect a growing immigrants’ rights movement. In November 2005, immigrant riots and demonstrations were staged in France and other EU nations. In April 2006, over a million people marched in cities around the US for immigrants’ rights—one of the largest demonstrations in US history. Immigrants’ rights have suddenly become a top global policy issue. In September 2006, the UN will host the first-ever High Level Dialogue on international migration, following the UN’s historic 2003 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers.

As the world’s population continues to grow, nations are rapidly coming together through free trade, improved transportation and communication avenues such as the internet. Free movement of people is the final frontier. Migration has brought miraculous economic growth to nations like Formosa, India, and China. Thousands of Indian and Chinese students who attended Western universities and worked in the West have returned home and revitalized their local economies in ways which are benefiting the whole world. Now these success stories are being applied to other developing nations.

Public opinion in developed countries has shifted markedly toward compassion for immigrants. According to a May 2006 survey released by the European Commission, the freedom of movement of persons and goods is “cited almost unanimously” by EU citizens as the greatest success of the EU, along with peace and aid to developing countries. Despite the widely publicized fear about losing jobs, a majority of EU citizens still support expanding the EU to less developed countries. 4

A 2005 UNESCO report states that a new proposal called Migration Without Borders (MWB)—essentially, removing national borders—is being widely discussed by foreign policy experts. Years of statistical data point to an unavoidable conclusion, that spending money on enforcing border restrictions is simply less cost-effective than helping immigrants, who ultimately benefit both nations’ economies. Soon, it is argued, the concept of nations will be outdated and we will all live in a united, multicultural “global village.”5