European Union member states are starting to resent one of the core values of the European Union: its fundamental policy of open borders between the member states. The reasons for this are fairly obvious, with the primary problem being that all the citizens of the European Union are entitled to work and avail all the social benefits in any country of their choosing. Needless to say, this puts a considerable amount of strain on every member state. This is especially taxing to the more developed countries like the United Kingdom, France and Germany among others since European Union citizens from Romania and Bulgaria come in large masses to obtain the well – developed healthcare and education systems. Their own countries, being under – developed cannot afford them these facilities. What’s more, due to the lack of awareness and education in these countries, they are relatively over populated. This makes them a huge source for immigrants. The public services and benefits are simply not equipped to deal with such a large number of people and tend to face an enormous number of problems.

Due to these problems, which are fast becoming apparent to the general population of the European Union member countries, support for anti – immigration parties, which were traditionally a minority is on the rise. This is supported by the fact that Switzerland in February organized a vote and managed to tighten immigration regulations despite severe warnings from the European Union. Though supporters of the move say that if citizens of the member countries are accorded the freedom to live and work anywhere, this will lead to the creation of a United States of Europe with no hampering of economic productivity. While this may seem like an idealist movement, it is in fact a very difficult dream which seems like an impossibility. No matter how hard the member countries try, they do not have the resources to accommodate all the European Union immigrants along with their own citizens. In the United Kingdom alone, a hundred and twenty thousand European Union immigrants enter every year. This adds up to the population of Manchester in a short span of 4 years! It is impossible to push for development while caring for the needs of so many individuals. At this rate, governments are bound to go bankrupt.

Most of the immigrants entering are unskilled and have absolutely no English abilities. This makes it impossible for them to integrate into United Kingdom society. Though no government in the past has addressed these burning issues, the political parties promising to act on them are winning support, irrespective of how tough their stance on other issues is. This is the major cause for the unexpected rise in popularity of the United Kingdom Independence Party. Despite their extremism, they are fast winning support among the blue collar working class due to their willingness to act on and address these issues. Ruling political parties need to take a stand and avoid flooding their countries with European Union immigrants if they hope to stay in power.