The European Union and Immigration from New Member Countries

Human migration, or the movement of people from one place to another, is a phenomenon that is as old as mankind itself. Indeed, it is believed that humans first appeared in Africa, and subsequently spread out toward the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Australia, and finally to the Americas.

Even after the advent and growth of human settlements, people have continued to migrate from one place to another, shaping the growth of civilizations and the progress of human history. For example, the migration of the Huns, the Goths, and other tribes during and after the fall of the Roman Empire changed the demographic and cultural landscape of Europe.

In modern times, after the advent of the nation states and the consolidation of nationalities, the migration of people from one nation to another came to be regulated by the national governments. The inflow of migration into a country became 'immigration' while the outflow came to be known as 'emigration.' Emigration had a profound influence on Europe in the 19th century and the early 20th century, when hundreds of thousands of poor families left Western Europe for the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia.⁶ Why do people move from one place to another? The reasons could be to escape war, famines, droughts, disease, political and religious persecution, and poverty...