lowing wrote:
B.Schuss wrote:
Turquoise wrote:
If not Islam, some other group or combination of groups will eventually dominate Europe. Most European nations (the more prosperous nations at least) have low "native" birth rates. They depend heavily on immigration to support their aging out populations and to keep population growth going.
Over the next century, Europe will become more and more non-European in its population, and if current trends remain constant, then North Africans, Sub-Saharan Africans, Middle Easterners, and South Asians will be the most significant ethnic groups on the continent by about 2100.
I'm not necessarily saying this is a bad thing, but it is something to think about. With changes in ethnicity, there often come changes in laws.
I agree to some degree. But those kind of migration movements are a natural occurence. Sure those have the potential to change the face of the continent forever, but hey, that's life. I mean, europe today isn't what it was in 1800 either.
Those demographic changes are part of evolution, if you will. Impossible to control. As you said, if we didn't have immigration, we could not keep our economy and growth on the level that we need. And the same is true for the rest of the western world, including the US.
If birth rates are low, immigration is what keeps the economy going.
It is also to be expected that those who come to europe to work here, bring their culture with them, and have some impact on our culture, if we want it or not.
But as I said, as long as we keep our core values intact ( you know, rule of law, freedom, democracy, and all of that ) I don't think we have much to worry about. The sad part for me is that I won't be able to see how all of this plays out. I don't expect to still be alive in 2100....
If I may chime in B.Schuss,
Now that we agree that the European landscape is and will change due to ME immigration. They only question remaining is, is it a positve change or a negative change?
How can you look at the ME, and maintain that change imported from that region to Europe or the US will be anything but a negative change?
The majority of immigrants refuse to become citizens, of their new country, refuse to learn the language. If it is like the US take advantage of tax incentives and govt. breaks only to ship the money "home" instead of putting it back into our economy, and several examples have been shown in various threads where special treatment and accomdations are demanded to facilitate them to do this. Again, where is the positive?
well, I'd say it can be either. It depends what we make of it. From my point of view, a successful integration can lead to a better, more diverse society, leaving people more open-minded with regard to their fellow citizens, more open to other cultures, and more tolerant for other values.
It it would be imperative, however, that our core EU values be preserved, such as the things I already mentioned, democracy, freedom of religion and speech, liberalism, tolerance, the rule of law, etc.
Also, I would be unwilling to compromise on certain issues such as official language. I would also require possible immigrants to be able to support themselves financially. I would make it mandatory for them to get german cititzenship if they plan to stay longer, i.e. make germany their place of residence, and I would make voting mandatory.
The idea is to keep a certain "German/Western european culture" ( whatever that is ), so we have a german/western european "identity", but still allow our immigrants to keep parts of the culture they came from. Ideally, this would lead to a new "culture" comprised of the best of both worlds.
The problem we currently have is that - for the most part - we have lived side by side with the immigrants, without really getting to know them. And to be honest, most of us didn't even want to get to know them, myself included. This has lead to them forming parallel societies, and some form of self-induced alienation.
If we overcome that, I wouldn't know why someone from the middle east should not be able to be a productive member of a western society.
The demographic change is nothing we can simply ignore, or wish away. If we want to uphold our economies on the current level, we
need immigration. There is no way around that.
Immigration comes at a price. I guess what you'd have to do is make sure the price ain't too high.