Spaniards fleeing the crisis may have reason to be thankful for European Union laws that give them the freedom to search for work across the 27-member bloc. But in Belgium, the jobless have discovered that these rights are fast diminishing. After cutting benefits for EU job-seekers earlier this year, Belgian authorities are now withdrawing residency rights from those who remain unemployed for six months after arrival.
Faced with a flood of migrant workers, the government says it has been forced to take action to prevent "abuse" of the benefits system. "The town hall calls people in using any old excuse," says Gustavo Nielsen, a Brussels-based lawyer who helps job-seekers from Spain, Latin America and Italy. "Once they arrive, they hand over their residency documents and they don't get them back. This is now a very frequent practice." Without proof of residency, jobseekers have little choice but to leave the country or enter the underworld.
"Once this happens, they don't come back to us," says Nielsen. The not-for-profit association where he works, Maison de l'Amerique Latine, is one of the first points of contact for increasingly desperate economic migrants from southern Europe. Nielsen and his colleagues talk to around 15 people a day, either in person or over the phone and internet. Jobseekers come in waves, he says, particularly after time-limited benefits in Spain and Italy run out. Some come alone, others with their families.
"Until a few months ago they had the right to benefits during the first three months of their job search," Nielsen says, adding: "But they don't have this anymore." Gert-Jan Sterckx, spokesman for Belgium's state secretary for immigration Maggie De Block, confirms this: ""The law was changed to prevent abuse of our welfare system. Similar measures have been taken in other countries." Nielsen is understanding. "Belgium can't help everyone," he says.
The extent of the flood is difficult to measure given that many migrants do not get in touch with officialdom. "The Spanish government says between 30,000 and 40,000 have left but I wonder if they want the real figures to be published," says Antonio Navarro Candel, chairman of the committee of Spanish residents in Belgium. While many trained, educated Spanish workers have found work in Belgium, others come for a few months and then leave. "It's a disaster," he says. Some Brussels newcomers are migrating for the second time. Latin Americans who moved to Spain during the boom years are in many cases forced to move on again.
"Two or three people approach me every week - it's a very serious problem; they are mainly looking for work and somewhere to live," says Father Oscar Londono Builes, who preaches every Sunday to around 300 Latin Americans at the Riches Claires Catholic Church in central Brussels. Desperate jobseekers started to arrive around a year ago, he says, and the pace of arrivals has increased over the last six months. "Some of them have debts back in Spain that cannot be repaid," he adds. "Some feel welcome here, others less so. It varies from town hall to town hall. They say there is nowhere for them to learn French. After three months many have to leave."
In his sermon on November 18, Father Oscar told his congregation that Europe was experiencing a "small apocalypse" triggered by a "neo-liberal" economic system "that enriches a few but condemns millions to live in misery". There is anecdotal evidence that migration flows have begun to reverse. Latin Americans are returning from Europe to their continent in the belief that there are better job prospects there. Spaniards are going too.
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