British Plan To Keep Greeks Out, As Euro-Crisis Nears End Game

British Plan To Keep Greeks Out, As Euro-Crisis Nears End Game

Haydn Shaughnessy
Forbes.com
May 25, 2012

The potential scope of disruption following a Greek Euro exit was revealed this evening when British Home Secretary Teresa May told the Daily Telegraph that the UK authorities were exploring emergency immigration controls in case of a Greek exit and further economic turbulence in countries like Spain.

Under EU law, inhabitants of the Union are allowed to travel freely between each country, a privilege that has been a long time coming all over Europe. Prior to the 1980s every country ran their own border controls and cars often queued for hours to pass from one country to another while officials checked passports. The UK has been exceptional in maintaining some degree of border integrity so what May has in mind goes much further than passport checks.

According to the Telegraph:

The Home Secretary says that the Government is already “looking at the trends” to determine whether immigration from beleaguered European countries is increasing. While there is no evidence of increased migration at present, she adds that it is “difficult to say how it is going to develop in coming weeks”.

Citizens of EU countries do not need work permits to settle and work in the UK. However, immigration is a sensitive issue for Britain which runs one of the most generous health and welfare protection schemes in Europe. It is possible for EU citizens to claim free health treatment on arrival and to register for UK social security payments. The fear is that millions of Greek and Spanish citizens with no work would find moving to the UK the best option of maintaining themselves.

Meanwhile, in an interview with The Guardian newspaper, IMF head, Christine Lagarde, insisted it is pay back time for the Greeks. In the course of an interview that touched on Greek tax evasion and corruption, she was asked if this was “pay back time”. According to the Guardian she answered: That’s right.

The language around Greece’s future appears either to be preparing the ground for exit or for one final attempt to enforce the conditions of the EU-IMF bailout. What’s becoming clear however is that the end-game will affect not just Greece but people across Europe.

Open borders!

That is, until less-than-savory types come to exploit the system.

Hmmm! Sounds like the USA and our "friends" south of the border.

TexasBlue wrote:Open borders!

That is, until less-than-savory types come to exploit the system.

Hmmm! Sounds like the USA and our "friends" south of the border.

It does indeed sound like our "friends" from the south.