Oldal 82 [82]
80 | Zoltán Simon and Tamás Dezső Ziegler
The same is true about giving Hungarian citizenship to ethnic Hungarians
living outside Hungary - many of whom travelled to Hungary for the first
time after receiving citizenship.
According to the first, technocratic perspective, Europe and ageing
European societies need migration, because otherwise they would be unable
to cope with their decreasing workforce. In many countries in Europe, we
see that the lack of foreign workers may lead to serious pitfalls in industries.
Incidentally, this is in line with some of the statements of dual labour market
theory:
Piore (1979) has been the most forceful and elegant proponent of this theoretical
viewpoint, arguing that international migration is caused by a permanent demand
for immigrant labor that is inherent to the economic structure of developed nations.
According to Piore, immigration is not caused by push factors in sending countries
(low wages or high unemployment), but by pull factors in receiving countries (a chronic
and unavoidable need for foreign workers). This built-in demand for immigrant labor
stems from four fundamental characteristics of advanced industrial societies and
their economies. (Massey et al. 1993, 440)
For most non-experts, most of Western European mainstream parties and
the European Union also seem to propagate openness. EU leaders regularly
express the same view towards controlled migration: as European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen put it, “migration has always been a fact for
Europe - and it always will be. It enriches our societies, it brings new talent
to our countries, when well managed” (Von der Leyen 2020).
An example for such kind of openness could be the EU Blue Card directive
(Council Directive 2009/50/EC), which was recently re-formulated to serve
the demands for migration. However, if we scratch the surface again, we see
that the Blue Card system has never really been as open as it is portrayed:
only 36,806 Blue Cards were issued in the whole of the EU in 2019, and most
of these by Germany (see European Parliament 2021).*
In public debates, this technocratic openness is opposed by voices calling
for limited or no immigration into Europe, which is a view often, but not
only, represented by xenophobic far-right parties. For example, in Hungary,
a constant topic on the government's communication agenda since 2015
has been to portray migration as highly dangerous for national culture and
identity. In several campaigns, the government spread conspiracy theories
claiming that George Soros was behind the EU’s open border policies, and
4 In October 2021, many of the former limitations were modified, but not completely
abolished. Thus, for example, even if someone is highly educated, a certain amount of salary
- a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 160 per cent of the average salary in the country
of origin - is still needed to be able to receive a Blue Card: a nonsensical limitation, which
shows a reluctance to openness. Furthermore, arrivals also need to have a work contract,
which is quite problematic to get when staying outside the destination country.