Foreigners are welcomed as long as they’re tourists

What is the role of tourism in the country’s economy? Very relevant; in case of such countries like Austria it’s even a question of survival. That’s simple – tourists bring money with them, take some pictures, buy Mozartkugeln and leave after some time. Actually, they can even be a kind of short-term entertainment for us, natives. However, the problem arises when they decide to stay in our country forever…

I’d like to start with an Irish example. When I was in Ireland in the summer I noticed that there weren’t almost any black people to be seen. I found it pretty surprising since the Irish nation seemed to be friendly and well-off which is normally a magnet for emigration (let’s just compare the same aspect in Great Britain). Anyway, when Lisa Joyce came to our class, she just confirmed my assumptions. The Irish people, to put it in a politically correct way, don’t like foreigners who differ themselves in appearance from them. This means that they accept Polish people, because they look similar to themselves. Furthermore, I suppose that Poles will be harmless as long as they do low-skilled jobs nobody else wants to do and don’t complain about relatively low wages in comparison to what the Irish earn. To put it straight – it’s a simple rule of demand and supply; we accept you as long as we need you. I can imagine that if the Celtic Tiger suddenly ends and Poles will start to compete for jobs with the Irish (for the time being they just fill the job market hole), they won’t be welcomed any more.

What about the attitude of Austrians towards foreigners? Well, nobody wants to deal with difficult cultural issues, nobody wants to support refugees, nobody wants to have well skilled competition on the job market. Astrid mentions that some kitchen staff in the restaurant she works at have higher education, are lawyers, economists, etc., but have to do simple jobs to make a living, because they can’t get jobs in their professions. Another example is the cleaning ladies at the university. A teacher of mine told me that lots of them have higher degrees, but are made to accept cleaning jobs. Well, the brilliant “Fremdenrecht”(I’m just appaled) in Austria particularly makes me laugh. Get rid of the foreign families, children who grew up here and don’t know anything else than the Austrian reality! What counts is that we lowered the number of refugee status applications! To sup up, Austria just somehow doesn’t seem inviting. However, I have some fun thinking what will happen in a few years’ time when it will have to open its borders for workforce from the new EU countries. Suddenly Austrian will have to become competitive and start doing their best and not just enough…

We all pursue to have better lives/to survive. That’s the law of the jungle. The stronger will win. Some countries seem not to accept this law and have to “defend” themselves by writing ridiculous legislation. You’re welcomed as long as you’re tourist…