I flussi migratori: Immigrazione in Europa: analisi della legislazione[Migration FLows: Immigration in Europe, Analysis of the legislation]

Migration movements registered in Europe since post World War II have resulted to be, as in the previous period of structural and permanent nature even in presence of diminishing demand of labor such as during the seventies. Following this period, the increase number influx of migrants has determined the development of new migration policies and concurrently the redefinition of the accompanying laws. The interest of the European government has progressively moved to pay more attention to issues such as family movements, returnee migration, the integration of the migrants and the problems of the refugees and the asylum seekers. Illegal immigration particularly in countries such as Italy and Spain has pushed the national governments to focus on actions to strengthen the controls at the borders and to fight illegal entries. More in general it has emerged among the European countries the needs for concerted actions to deal with migration movement increasing the cooperation and adjusting the legislation in order to adhere to the requirements of the European Councils, in the area of security and immigration,while at the same time developing a new coherent policy accordingly to the European Neighboring Policy. In this chapter we are going to consider the current legislation in use in France, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and Italy in the areas of entry and residence of the non European citizens aiming at highlighting, where possible, the differences and the common elements in the different national legislation.