The first part will be a main description of Italy. The different subjects which will be dealt with are the economic, historical and geographical of Italy.
1.1 Economic data
In this chapter, Italy’s economic data will be described.
1.1.1 GDP
The gross domestic product (GDP) measures of national income and output for a given country’s economy. The gross domestic product (GDP) is equal to the total expenditures for all final goods and services produced within the country in a stipulated period of time (OECD, 2015).
Italy is the eighth largest economy in the world, with a GDP of 1,672,438.3 million euros (current prices, 2016), and the fourth largest economy in the European Union. The GDP has been increasing since 2014, with an average growth of 1% (OECD, 2015).
1.1.2 Economic sectors
Italy is one of the main agricultural producers in the European Union. This means the 2.2% of the national GDP and the 4% of the active population. Italy is specialized in the production of fruits, olive oil and vine, mostly destined for wine.
Then about the industrial sector. The industrial sector has a heavy weight in Italy’s economy, in other words 23.6% of its GDP. It is the second most industrialized country in the EU, behind Germany. It was the main sector, which allowed its economic development in the past. Firstly, it focused on the textile sector; later, in the mid-20th century, automotive sector substituted textile as the leading manufacturing sector.
As in all the developed countries, the service sector is the main sector. It comprises of the 74.4% of GDP, and the 68.8% of the active population. The most important activity in this sector is tourism, making Italy the third tourist destination in the European Union, and the fifth in the world. (Santander, 2017)
1.1.3 Trade
Imports: 26.5% of the GPD is spent in imports (443,590 million euros), becoming the 11th biggest importer worldwide. Most important merchandises: petroleum (5.62%) and vehicles (5.62%) (Atlas, sd). Most important origins:
- Germany (15%): 52,312 million euros
- France (8.8%): 29,713 million euros
- China (7.6%): 25,947 million euros
- Netherlands (5.5%): 18,749 million euros
- Belgium-Luxemburg (4.9%): 16.573 million eurosExports: its value is 30% of the GDP (501,472.6 million euros), being the 7th largest exporter in the world. Exports has annually increased in an average of 0.8% between 2010 and 2015. Most exported products: medicines (4.49%) and vehicles (3.13%). (Atlas, sd)
Most important destinations:
- Germany (12%): 43,090 million euros
- France (9.6%): 36,064 million euros
- United States (9.6%): 35,980 million euros
- United Kingdom (5.5%): 20,584 million euros
- Spain (4.4%): 16,484 million eurosExport to import ratio: is the quotient between exports and imports. The ratio is positive, which means there are more exports than imports (1.09). It was negative in the past years until 2012, when imports strongly decreased and exports slightly grew. (Atlas, sd)
1.1.4 Trade balance
The balance of trade is the difference between a country’s’ exports and imports for a given time period (Investopedia, n.d.); it shows the relative strength of a country’s economy compared with other countries and it shows the flow of trade between nations (Investopedia, n.d.). The balance is positive (57,882 million euros), meaning the 3.4% of the GDP. (Investopedia, sd)
1.1.5 Gini coefficient
The Gini-index is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nation’s residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality. The Gini coefficient can range from 0 (complete equality) to 1 (complete inequality). According to most recent data (2012), Italy has a Gini coefficient of 31.9, being the 33rd country with the lowest number. It is slightly higher than the European Union average (31.0), indicating there is more inequality in Italy than in the EU generally. (CIA, sd)
1.2 Historical data
In this chapter, the historical data on Italy will be discussed. The timeline of the politics will be used to describe the history of Italy.
1.2.1 Growing population
The total population in 1960 was 50.0 million people. The population on January 1st 2017 was estimated at 60.59 million people, this is a fall of 0.1 percent compared to the population on January 1st 2017, 60.67 million people. The population of Italy represents 0.88 percent of the world’s total population. (Trading Economics, sd)
1.2.2 The rise and fall of Mussolini
Upon the outbreak of World War I, Italy declared its neutrality. Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies, but they did not gain that much territory they expected to gain. In 1919, Mussolini organized discontented Italians into the Fascist Party. He changed Italy into a dictatorship (Infoplease, sd).
1.2.3 Italy moves to stabilize its economy
Later, Italy became a member of NATO and the EEC, later the European Union, they successfully rebuilt its post-war economy. In the 70’s, the terrorist activities from the Red Brigades threatened the stability of Italy. In the 80’s, the terrorist groups had been put down.
In 1999, Italy embraced the euro as their currency. In May 1999, Treasury Secretary Carlo Ciampi, was elected president. Carlo Ciampi is credited with the economic rebuild that allowed Italy to enter the European Monetary Union (Infoplease, sd).
1.2.4 Berlusconi
In 2001, Silvio Berlusconi became prime minister. He pledged to reduce unemployment, proposed to cut taxes, rehabilitate the educational system and he minimized the bureaucracy. Berlusconi was accused of mafia related activities and he was accused for tax fraud and bribery. He was found guilty in three trials.
In the 2005 elections, Berlusconi obtained 0.1 percent viewer votes than Romano Prodi, which made Romano lose his position as a prime minister. Berlusconi asked for a recount on the votes, but he eventually relented (Infoplease, sd).
1.2.5 Podi vs. Berlusconi
In 2007, Prodi resigned after just nine months as a prime minister because of a key foreign policy vote but when Berlusconi wanted to return power, Podi passed a vote of confidence and he was re-elected. In 2008, he lost his majority in the senate. In April of that year, there where elections where Berlusconi saw an opportunity again. He won the election. In 2010, he lost his majority and in 2011 he was accused for criminal charges.
When there was no sign to believe Italy’s debt crisis was getting better, no one believed in Berlusconi’s leadership anymore. Berlusconi promised to resign when the Senate would let measurements pass, they did in 2011 and he stepped down. Mario Monti took over. He reformed and helped to stabilize the economy and restore the confidence of investors. Monti was critized for too much focus on austerity rather than growth. He resigned in 2012 after losing support of PdL (Infoplease, sd).
1.2.6 Political gridlock
In 2013, the elections were inconclusive so it led Italy to be a country in political gridlock. The Democratic Party could not gain a secure majority in the Senate so they could not form a government. The Five Star Movement won 25% of the votes, placing them third. The uncertainty of Italy was big, and the stock markets tumbled.
On November 2013, Berlusconi was deprived of his position in the Senate because of legal troubles.
On the 22st of February 2014, Matteo Renzi was sworn in as youngest Italian prime minster. For the first time in history, half of the government was female (Infoplease, sd).
1.2.7 New prime minister of Italy
After Renzi resigned, President Sergio Mattarella choose Paolo Gentiloni to be prime minister. He reformed a government and wanted to retain many of the ministers of Renzi his cabinet. Prime minister Gentiloni faces a banking crisis because the oldest bank in Italy refused help from the ECB, which has led to fears that the government was forced to nationalised the lender. Gentiloni is a centre left Democrat (Smith, 2016).
1.3 Geographical information
In this chapter, the geographical situation of Italy will be discussed with the population, the division of the political parties in the country, the unemployment rate and the immigration.
1.3.1 Facts on Italy
The official name of Italy is Italian Republic. The capital of Italy is Rome. At this moment, Italy has 61,680,122 habitants. The official language spoken in Italy is Italian. In Italy there can be paid with Euro’s. Italian has 301,277 square kilometres. Italy is boot-shaped, as can be seen in the picture below. Italy is known for its mountains: Alps and the Apennines, and its major rivers: Po, Adige, Arno and Tiber.
Italian art, architecture and culture has an influence around the world. They are also at the heart of the Catholic Church, governed from Vatican City.
Family is important in Italy. It is normal for 30-year-old, working children, to stay at their parents’ home. Therefore, it is also normal for parents to live with their children after they retire (Geographic, sd).
1.3.2 Italy Population Density
As you can see, the population density doesn’t depend of the wealth of each part but it depends of the city. Campania region has Rome and Lombardy has Milan are big cities, so to explain the high density. But we can see that most of the north part still pretty occupied, it can be because the north part is richer so some habitants leave the south part. (Density Population, sd)
1.3.3 Italy geopolitical
Italy has 7 major political Democratic Party, Forza Italia, Five Star Movement, Lega Nord, Civic Choice, Left Ecology Freedom and Union of the Center (Political Party, s.d.). Italy is mostly part of the Democratic Party especially in the south part, where the actual president of the party is Matteo Orfini. (Orfini, s.d.)
1.3.4 Italy unemployment rate
Italy is popular for its north and south parts, because those are different. On the first hand, the north part is rich because of the industrial triangle where the cities of Milan, Turin and Genoa are the three corners of the triangle. Furthermore, an industrial area means a lot of employment. Therefore, on the map, the unemployment rate is lower than the south part, mostly because of that. Then, the south part is more specialize on agriculture and there’s few industrial markets there. (Geography, s.d.)
That’s why the unemployment rate is higher over there because they are not sufficient work for everyone who live in the south part of Italy. (Entreprise News, s.d.)
1.3.5 Immigration in Italy
Italy has always been one of the destination for immigrants because of the Mediterranean Sea. So, a lot of immigrants where most of them are political immigrants cross the sea to take refuge in Europe. Here’s a map about immigrants, red and orange point are where they are many immigrants in Italy. We can see that some of them are on seaside in the south part, but most of them are in the north part. Immigrants who are in the northern part can easily just passed by Italy and go in another Europe country or they are there for his high economic activity (Immigration place, s.d.).
Chapter 2 Political analysis
For the political analysis, different subjects will be taken into account. The democracy on a national level is the first topic which will be elaborated. After this there will be some information about the nations and the EU. Then the friends, acquaintances and rivals of Italy will be taken into account and finally the topics; immigration and sustainable employment will be explained.
These different subjects have been narrowed down to a few research questions which can be found in the introduction of this report.
2.1 Democracy on a national level
Since December 12, 2016, a center-side government-Gentiloni performs the regime. They followed up the almost identical-compiled Cabinet Renzi in February 2014. The Renzi government was formed after (early) elections in 2013, which resulted in an unclear outcome. Only after the re-election of former President Napolitano and after the resignation of PD leader Bersani, left and Berlusconi’s PDL were willing to cooperate under the leadership of the former mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi.
In December 2016, Renzi organized a referendum on a number of constitutional amendments that had to make Italy better manageable. He attached his political fate to the outcome of the referendum. Nearly 60 percent of the electorate opposed the proposals. Because of this Renzi served his resignation (Europa Nu, 2017).
2.1.1 State form, parties and electoral system
Italy is a republic, with a parliamentary two-chamber system. The political presence lies with the prime minister. Who’s cabinet depends on the trust of ‘Camera dei deputati’ (Chamber of Representatives) and ‘Senato della Repubblica’ (Senate). The electoral system, however, reinforces the dominant position of the winner of the parliamentary elections. The government can rule by decree and organizing a referendum is possible. To organize a referendum, 50,000 signatures of voters are required.
Italy has a fairly strict separation of powers. The parliament has the legislative power. The executive power lies with the prime minister, the ministers and the government. The president, elected by Chamber and Senate for seven years, nominates the Prime Minister, who then constitutes his cabinet.
The president predominantly has representative duties, is chief commander and is formally in charge of the judiciary. He also has a task in monitoring the constitutional values. This way he can (once) block laws of which he thinks they contradict with the Constitution.
There are twenty regions with extensive powers. Some regions (such as South Tyrol, Sardinia and Sicily) have far-reaching autonomy. Italy has a Constitutional Court, which can test laws to the Constitution (Europa Nu, 2017).
2.1.2 Electoral system
The current Italian electoral system dates back to 2005. 75 percent of the members of the House will be chosen on basis of a majority system (the winner in a district will be the seat) and 25 percent by proportional representation. The system promotes coalition between parties.
In the election of the 630 members of the Chamber, the country is divided into 26 constituencies which choose 617 members. In addition, ‘Val d’Aosta’ chooses a member and the remaining 12 members are chosen by Italians abroad.
With the allocation of seats through districts, various voting thresholds are used. A coalition who achieves a majority, but no 340 seats, is allocated extra seats (up to about 54% of the total number of seats). The electoral age is 18 years.
The 315 members of the Senate are elected in 20 regions and in addition there are 6 seats chosen by Italians abroad. Also here, thresholds apply to qualify for a seat. A coalition reaching a majority in a region will immediately receive 55% of all seats in that region. Electors must be 25 years or older (Europa Nu, 2017).
2.1.3 Italian party system
After World War II, Christian Democracy (Democrazia Christiana – DC) was the major Italian party. They were the biggest party for 50 years. Until the 1990s, the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano – PCI) was the largest opposition party. Other parties were: Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano – PSI) and Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano – MSI). The most coalitions were formed between the DC and other parties. This changed after the collapse of the political system in the early 90s because of a series of corruption scandals. During these scandals PCI got evolved with Democracy Party of the Left (Partito Democratico della Sinistra – PDS), and MSI got evolved into National Alliance (Alleanza Nationale – AN). A new party, Forza Italia came on top in 1994.
From 1996 till 2008, two major coalitions were formed:
– Pole for Freedom: Forza Italia, National Alliance, Christian Democratic Centre and United Christian Democrats.
– The Olive Tree: Democratic Party of the Left, Italian People’s Party, Italian Renewal, Federation of the Greens, Italian Socialists and Democratic Union.
In 2013, the party system got changed. The economic crisis in Italy modified the scenery in which Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement was added, and a new coalition around Mario Monti’s Civic Choice.
2.1.4 Comparison of the political systems of the Netherlands and Italy
Representative democracy is a political system in which the right to represent a people, a nation or a community is recognized by a limited assembly. The will of the citizens is expressed by the representative of the general will, votes the law and, in a parliamentary system, controls the government.
The last Italian constitution dates back to 1948. As we can see from the diagram, universal suffrage is used to elect the parliament, the national assembly, where one can vote from the age of 18, the Senate where you can vote from the age of 25. Italian citizenship can therefore vote for their parliamentary representatives who in turn elect the president of the republic, as well as part of the constitutional court. In addition, the Italian population elects people from local to regional level. Only a part of the constitution is chosen by their representatives. Italy is therefore a highly representative democracy.
Compared with the Dutch democratic system, it is similar. Dutch citizens have the right to vote at the local, regional and national level from 18 years of age, whether for the National Assembly or the Senate. It can therefore be concluded that Italy and the Netherlands have a representative and similar democratic system (KOLLWELTER, 9) (Maca, 2014) (Nerlandse Democratie)
2.1.5 Italian policy towards refugees
The legal system of Italy provides a complex framework of assistance to asylum seekers. The most important international treaties providing for the protection of refugees and their families are ratified and adhered by Italy. The border of Italy is strictly controlled, and the Italian police have broad powers to control and reject asylum seekers here. Italian legislation has created several government agencies at the national and regional levels to provide assistance to asylum seekers, including the review of their applications, financial and material help, and the monitoring of their activities within the country.
Grounds for the rejection of asylum requests has been created by legislation that accords with Italy’s international and European obligations. Under certain conditions Italian law provides for an abbreviated procedure for the review of asylum requests. Asylum seekers may be granted with two different status; either the international protection status or the refugee status. Repatriation and deportation proceedings are also regulated in national legalisation.
Asylum-related administrative decisions are subject to judicial review. Once the refugees have gained the protected status they basically can enjoy the same benefits as the Italian citizens, like the education, work, health care, housing and other benefits established by law. Finally, protective measures are established for unaccompanied minors found in the country (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS , 2016).
2.2 Nations and the EU
In chapter 2.2, the general attitude towards the EU for the main Italian political parties will be discussed.
2.2.1 Points of criticism and appreciation of parties and parliament
Like in every country, there is not a unique position but many. In Italy, the parties with ideologies against the European Union policies are in minority. Nevertheless, there are matters in which a vast majority agree.
One of these topics is the EU immigration policy. Italy blame EU for being too relaxed doing its policy be obeyed by some countries, in special some countries from Eastern Europe. For this reason, some parties are favourable to recover the power of the national immigration policy due to the failure in the European coordination and Frontex. The parties that support this idea are the three already listed, adding Nuovo Centrodestra and Forza Italia. The remaining parties do not agree in this topic, agreeing with the actual European policy.
Some political parties as well blame EU of their recession and slow recovery due to the imposed austerity economic policies. As a result, some parties oppose to the Euro system, in favour of a national currency and take back the control of the monetary policy. The political parties that support this position are Movimiento 5 Stelle, Lega Nord and Fratelli d’Italia. The rest of political parties are against neglecting the Euro.
To sum it up, Italy is one of the six countries that founded the EU. Consequently, Italy advocate for a future in the EU, improving the way policies are applied, despite the critical environment it suffers.
2.2.2 Which points should the EU not interfere with?
Mainly, Italy want EU to take part on most topics it already intervenes. The Italian criticism against EU comes from the way policies are applied.
The central topic nowadays is the immigration policy. A majority of Italians agree with taking back the control on their borders, breaching the passport-free Schengen treaty. They think it is better if they do so, as EU immigration policy is useless. Many countries do not cooperate in their assigned refugees’ quota or giving the needed resources to solve the problem. (FT.com, 2017)
A part of the Italian society agrees with the EU not taking part on their country economic issues. This is the reason why some Italians wants to leave the Euro and take back a national currency.
Finally, there are persons who do not want EU to take part on their national policy at all, who pursue neglecting the EU.
2.2.3 Populists and nationalists effect on the political parties
Populists
Italy is a standout amongst the most dynamic and persevering markets for populist parties in Western Europe. While in other European countries the rise or the emergence of populism is a recent development or has occurred only occasionally, it is a continual feature of Italian politics. In the sixteen years since 2001, Italy has had populist governments for roughly half of this period if one counts the three governments led by Silvio Berlusconi that were in power from 2001 until 2005, 2005 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Furthermore, in the last Italian general election in 2013, populists gained more than half of the vote.
The Italian experience highlights four particular threats to democracy that can emerge from this populist presence.
- Populist parties have repeatedly attacked the work of judges, notably in the case of Silvio Berlusconi. Additionally, they have had a sizeable impact on the role of the media in Italian politics. This is true both of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and the Five Star Movement, who have both posed a threat to the freedom and autonomy of media organisations.
- There has been a general oversimplification of political discourse in Italy. There is cross-party consensus among the main political parties on the need to reduce the number of MPs. This implies a certain reduction of political representation, while the reduction in terms of the cost of politics is rather uncertain.
- Italy has experienced the spread of populist themes and frames even among non-populist parties. In the last few years, the success of populist campaigning among citizens has pushed even mainstream parties to react using populist rhetoric, styles and sometimes also populist content of their own.
- Italian populism illustrates the so called ‘cultivation theory’. It is worth noting that the success of populist parties is achieved through the de-legitimisation of politics, institutions, and the ruling class, and that it produces a vicious circle fuelling citizens’ distrust and dissatisfaction. (Bobba, 2017)Although populist parties can pose threats of this nature to democracy, usually their leaders are also political entrepreneurs that build off several problems not adequately addressed by mainstream parties. Their successes rely on the ineffectiveness of governments to take seriously the problems identified by populist parties, such as political corruption, inefficient use of public money, the integration of migrants, and the demands of those who are excluded from the benefits of the globalisation process. Finding feasible answers for these issues is the mandatory way for Italian politics to follow if it is to reduce the growing gap that separates it from Italian natives.
Nationalists
Italians are known for complaining very much about their own country, spending their time saying how their own country sucks and how the other countries are better than theirs, and with these statements they want to justify the several Italians going abroad in order to see their qualifications valued properly.
With the latter crisis of the EU, some nationalist parties are gaining power, telling the Italians how the EU has ruined their flourishing economy and how they need to get their country back. The majority of Italians is aware of the importance of Europe and how little their peninsula is, compared to big powers like China or Russia. (Golden, 2014)
Italy’s neo-fascists have enjoyed a bounce after slumping to a historic low of 4 per cent in the 2013 election for the lower house. But the party that used be a partner in Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition, winning 10.2 per cent of the vote in the 2009 European parliamentary elections, has been given new life by Matteo Salvini, 43, who became its leader in 2013. It has also proved adept at exploiting the migrant crisis, which has hit Italy hard, and it has been polling fourth among Italian parties for much of this year. (Dunn, 2017)
2.3 Friends, acquaintances and rivals
In this chapter Italy’s friends, acquaintances and rivals will be described, on the topics immigration and sustainable employment. All information has been gathered through arranged lobbying rounds and personal lobbying.
2.2.1 Immigration
More than half of Italians are worried about the immigration issue. Italy is one of the main entry points for people travelling to Europe via North Africa. Italy thinks that it has been left alone to face the increasing number of migrants arriving along the coast.
Within this topic Sweden could be a friend, because they strive for an equal number of refugees in every country. As Italy has undoubtedly the most refugees coming to the country, Sweden will be able to positively influence the outcome of the conference.
Germany and France are Italy’s friend on this topic, although they’re not completely happy with ‘economic’ refugees. They want to welcome refugees in general, but won’t be able to take care of all of them.
Poland and Austria are not particularly Italy’s rivals, but they simply stated that they don’t want any more refugees coming to their country. Poland has none, and does not want to take any refugees in, they however are not against European immigrant. Austria feels that they have already done their share, and should not have to take more into their country.
2.2.2 Sustainable Employment
Although Italy does not want to keep all of their refugees in Italy, they are an important contributor to Italy’s economy. 11% of all workers are immigrants, mixed between European and economic refugees. Italy’s stand is that mainly Italy’s youth is facing a problem, because a lot of jobs are taken by immigrants, or the youth is over-educated.
France, Sweden and Austria are Italy’s best friends here. They both suffer from youth unemployment and unemployment because of immigration. Sweden has already created a law in their own country to counter this, but is seeking for a solution for the whole of Europe.
Poland mainly offers employees. They already have a lot of people working abroad, but their educated workers are facing an intense labour workforce. Poland should be called an acquaintance on this subject.
Germany has stated that their economy is doing very well. They are every looking for employees to solve their ample job market. They are not too concerned with the youth unemployment but have noted that they will be able to take in foreign employees if necessary.
Chapter 3 Immigration Policy
3.1 Allocation
The responsibility and solidarity of all Member States of the EU is required for effectively managing the pressure of migratory flows on some parts of the shared external Schengen border. Two key measures are of crucial importance and need to be fully implemented: the relocation scheme and the ‘hotspot’ approach, with the fingerprinting of all migrants, the prompt selection and relocation of asylum applicants and establishment of adequate reception capacities. The other essential component is action to secure swift return, voluntary or forced, of people not in need of international protection and who do not therefore qualify for relocation.
Arriving by sea
Only this year, almost 150,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea. The Commission is working very closely with the Italian authorities to assist them in this challenge because the scale of arrivals is so huge. The Italian authorities has been working on the ground for months, hand in hand with a dedicated team of commissions officials (European Commission).
Researched revealed, the proportional allocation of asylum seekers is supported by the majority of Europeans, according to a system that takes into account each country’s capacity.
But the study also reveals something else. The support for the system is dramatically affected by the number of asylum seekers expected for each country.
Researchers from the US, Britain and Switzerland published in the journal ‘Nature Human Behaviour’, the study is based on an online survey of 18,000 citizens of 15 European countries.
Support on allocation
From all participants across the 15 countries in Europe, 72% supported proportional allocation when taken at face value, when told of its expected impact on the number of asylum seekers in their country almost 58% backed it. When all asylum seekers where distributed proportionally, most countries would see an increase in their number of asylum seekers.
However, experts say the latest findings add weight to calls for a change in policy rom current rules in which asylum seekers to Europe should apply in the first country in which they arrive.
Dominik Hangartner, co-author of the research from the London School of Economics said the following: “We asked people what kind of asylum system they want and what kind of asylum system they believe is fair, because back then [in 2016 when the survey was conducted], and still now, it is obvious that the current Dublin system is not working,”
There were three different systems. The first option was the current system, applications for asylum should be allocated to the European country in which the asylum seeker first arrived. Another option was that each country should be allocated the same number of asylum applications. And the last possibility was that each country should receive applications in proportion to its capacity.
The last option is a system that takes into account different factors. Such as the country’s population size, unemployment rate, GDP and number of past applications.
The research found that for all 15 countries, proportional allocation is backed by the majority of the population. 72% of all those who took part favoring the approach once factors such as age distribution and education levels for each country’s population were taken into account.
Allocation in your home country
The results changed dramatically when the participants were told how many asylum seekers would really be allocated to their country, based on real-world data from 2015. ‘While almost 61% of those in Britain supported proportional allocation on the face of it, only 31% backed the policy when the expected increase in asylum applications was made clear.’
Nevertheless, of all the countries that would see more asylum applications there was still a majority in favor of proportional allocation (Davis, 2017).
Percentage of respondents who prefer proportional, equal or status quo allocation given random assignment to one of four conditions.
a. The baseline condition (n = 4,530) asked for the respondents’ preferences without any additional intervention.
b. The information treatment (n = 4,438) informed respondents of the status quo policy and policy-relevant arguments.
c. The consequences treatment (n = 4,423) informed respondents of the number of asylum seekers that their country would receive under each allocation.
d. The fourth condition included both the information treatment and the consequences treatment (n = 4,492). Countries are ordered such that the country at the bottom would see the largest increase in the number of asylum seekers when moving from the status quo to proportional allocation, and the country at the top would see the largest decrease. The dashed horizontal line separates the countries that would see an increase versus a decrease. Estimates employ sample weights.
The countries in the figure are ordered in such a way that the country at the bottom would see the largest increase in their asylum seekers and the country at the top would see the largest decrease. The horizontal line separating the countries divides the countries. The countries above the line would see a decrease and the countries under the line would see an increase of asylum seekers when we move from the status quo to proportional allocation.
There is a strong public support for moving towards a proportional allocation system. This is surprising given the fact that most countries would receive a higher number of asylum seekers under proportional allocation than under the status quo.
In this figure, we also see that Italy initially chooses for the ‘proportional’ allocation of all the refugees. However, after Italy got more information about the exact number of refugees which would be allocated according to the ‘proportional’ allocation there’s a shift occurring. Italy does want to allocate the refugees on the basis of a ‘same for all’ method. So, every country should get an equal number of refugees. This is because Italia is one of the biggest countries of the EU with the third biggest population. This would mean that Italia would get a big number of refugees.
Main arrival destination
Besides that, Italy is the main arrival destination for all new asylum seekers who try to reach Europe. This means that the number of Asylum seekers in Italy will keep rising in comparison with the other EU countries. Therefore, Italy is now strongly advocate of allocation of all asylum seekers between the different countries of the European Union (Kirk Bansak, 2017).
According to research it is clear that asylum seekers will always try to find new ways to get to Europe. If one route closes or isn’t possible anymore they will think of other ways to get where they want to be. All these different options are for those people better then returning to their home country (Kingsley, 2016).