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Solidarity in Europe and the Role of Immigration Policies: A Discourse Theoretical Perspective

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Discourse, Culture and Organization

Part of the book series: Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse ((PSDS))

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to examine the European discourse during the immigration crisis (2015–2017) and the policies set as means of expressing solidarity in practice among the EU states. Firstly, the theoretical framework of solidarity and the European Union’s perspective of solidarity are discussed in detail. Then, the focus is moved toward three main European policies on migration, hence the Dublin Regulation on family reunification, relocation, and the EU-Turkey agreement.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Aeschylus’ Iketides (Suppliant Women, 463–464 BC) is the first literary text in history that raises the issue of a persecuted group of people seeking asylum. Laboratory of Dilemmas presents the play’s dilemmas through the excerpts of an unfinished documentary, about a scientific experiment.

  2. 2.

    In Emile Durkheim’s Divisionof Labor in Society (1893), ‘mechanical solidarity’ characterizes primitive societies. The members of that society are more likely to resemble each other and share the same beliefs and morals. Solidarity becomes more organic as these societies develop their divisions of labor. In particular, ‘organic solidarity’ is understood as a natural outcome resulting from social interactions generated by the division of labor in modern societies.

  3. 3.

    Stjernø (2005: 93ff.) suggests three possible explanations for the historical change in the use of solidarity. First, it is a change in the class structure and the need for electoral alliances. Second is the cultural change after 1968 that rendered the need for socialdemocracy to broaden the concept of solidarity acute, and third is the nature of political symbols and programs.

  4. 4.

    ‘Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity’ (Robert Schuman, The Schuman Declaration, May 9, 1950).

  5. 5.

    Wealthier countries help poorer EU countries to develop their economies in exchange for their engagement to the process of economic integration. In the short term, this provides more benefits for richer countries than for poorer economies (Fernandes and Rubio 2012: 5).

  6. 6.

    ‘The Union shall mobilize all the instruments at its disposal, including the military resources made available by the Member States, in order to: prevent the terrorist threat in the territory of the Member States; to protect democratic institutions and the civilian population from any terrorist attack; assist a Member State in its territory, at the request of its political authorities, in the event of a terrorist attack’ [Art 222 1(a) TFEU]; ‘to assist a Member State in its territory, at the request of its political authorities, in the event of a natural or man-made disaster’ [Art 222 1(b) TFEU].

  7. 7.

    Solidarity among the EU member states was acknowledged as one of the main values of the EU: ‘The Union shall be founded on the European Communities, supplemented by the policies and forms of cooperation established by this Treaty. Its task shall be to organize, in a manner demonstrating consistency and solidarity, relations between the Member States and between their peoples’ (Art 2 TEU).

  8. 8.

    For a discussion on the concept of solidarity in different EU law areas, see Malcolm Ross (2010: 23ff.).

  9. 9.

    https://www.easo.europa.eu/easo-history [Date of Access: 10 January 2018].

  10. 10.

    M.S.S. was an interpreter who had fled Afghanistan in early 2008 after, as he claimed, an attempt was made on his life by the Taliban (see Clayton 2011); Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, Application no. 30696/09, 21 January 2011).

  11. 11.

    In Case C-411/10, Mr. N.S., an Afghan national, came to the United Kingdom after traveling through, among other countries, Greece, where he was arrested in 2008 (see Court of Justice of the European Union, An Asylum Seeker may not be Transferred to a Member State Where he Risks being Subjected to Inhuman Treatment, Press release, No 140/11 Luxembourg, 21 December 2011).

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  1. Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece

    Efharis Mascha

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  1. Efharis Mascha
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Correspondence to Efharis Mascha .

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  1. Department of Sociology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Tomas Marttila

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Mascha, E. (2019). Solidarity in Europe and the Role of Immigration Policies: A Discourse Theoretical Perspective. In: Marttila, T. (eds) Discourse, Culture and Organization. Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94123-3_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94123-3_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94122-6

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