What’s next? Rob Wijnbergs dode pinguïn

Liberal Sweden elects an explicitly anti-immigrant party to parliament for the first time. France’s president and the European Commission lacerate each other in public over deportations of Roma. A former German central banker publishes a bestseller warning that immigration is diluting the nation’s human stock. And even Britain moves forward with plans to cap economic immigration. The last three weeks have been a startling illustration of how immigration has come to dominate European politics.

At first, the EU seemed only a marginal player in this drama. The European Commission cannot dictate how many immigrants member countries let in, how many refugees they accept or how host societies should integrate newcomers. EU powers over the issuing of work visas are limited. But, as the row between President Sarkozy and Viviane Reding, the EU’s justice commissioner, demonstrates, the Union has become a central player in immigration policy, even when governments point to public safety to defend their actions. This is mainly because the Commission is legally obliged to protect the mobility rights of citizens under a ‘free movement’ directive agreed by governments in 2004. (The law aims to make sure that EU nationals can move to each others’ countries without the need for work or residency permits, a commitment originally laid down in the EU’s founding treaties.)