Willing or not, Europe needs more immigration

MercuryNews.com | 04/29/2006

"Willing or not, Europe needs more immigration
By Jeffrey Fleishman
Los Angeles Times

BERLIN - Europe is buying more coffins than cribs.

The continent faces a shrinking population and other harsh demographic changes that threaten the welfare state unless it finds more foreign workers in coming decades. But its economic need for newcomers is at odds with its skepticism of embracing an angry and often disillusioned immigrant Muslim population.

Unlike the congressional battle over immigration in the United States, dealing mainly with Latinos and their right to work, the furor in Europe centers on cultural differences and anxieties over radical Islam. Whereas the United States is a nation of immigrants, Europe historically is a continent of nationalism, where falling birthrates and rapidly aging populations are forcing it to accept diversity."