1.1. The interwar years
Just after the First World War, Belgium set up a workforce hiring policy especially for coalmines.
The economical crisis of the 30s led however to severe restrictions to the entry and to the use of immigrant workforce, with the institution of a restrictive legislation which still constitutes the basis of the current regulations.
1.2. 1945 – 1960
From 1945 to the beginning of the 60s, the Belgian policy as regards immigration has an essentially economical function. The recourse to foreign workers is considered temporary to answer the needs of the labour market. There is no question at that time of a permanent settling and, consequently, of an integration policy.
At first, coalmines use immigrant workforce the most (the recourse to Italian miners for the « coal battle » in 1945) but, progressively, other sectors (metallurgical industry, building industry, services) call on them. With the stopping of Italian immigration in 1956 after the catastrophe at the Bois du Cazier, Greece and Spain answer the needs for workers in Belgium. Some political refugees and people displaced from Eastern Europe are also recruited.
1.3 1960 – 1974
The period 1961- 1974 is marked by considerable modifications in the characteristics of the migration phenomenon in Belgium.
- An increase in the number of immigrants and a widening of the recruitment areas: after the South of Europe, we turn to North Africa and Turkey.
- A geographical and sectional shift. Before 1961, immigrants were mostly located in the coal areas in Wallonia and in the Campine. Since the mining activity is on the decline, they settle from then on in the big industrial and urban centres (Ghent, Antwerp and above all Brussels). More and more sectors call on foreign workforce: metallurgical industry, building industry, services, chemistry, transports, etc.
- The basic motivation for welcoming foreigners in the country remains of course economical but, on the basis of surveys highlighting a population ageing process, the authorities progressively give immigration a new repopulation and injection of young blood function to maintain the demographical balance of the country. That implies to favour the definitive settling of foreign nationals and to take the necessary measures for their integration.
- The progressive application of the dispositions of the Treaty of Rome on the free movement of people in the European Union (see below the point «Historical links between Belgium and Italy») changes the status of nationals from countries belonging to the Union.
The deterioration of the economical situation in the beginning of the 70s leads the Belgian government to stop immigration officially on 1st August 1974.
1.4. Since 1974
The decision of the official stopping made in 1974 did not put an end to the migration flux which even starts again in a sizeable way from 1984 on. In comparison with the period before 1974 we find some differences in the forms of migrations, the national origins of the migrants and the policies implemented by the Belgian authorities.
1999 is a turning point in the policy concerning immigration. We go from the «zero immigration» rhetoric to the «global approach» one to talk from then on about a migration policy that is «rebalanced, combining open-mindedness and firmness». This change of perspective can largely be explained by the transfer of important levers of the decision on the subject to the European Union which will be made responsible for harmonizing the national policies.
From the beginning of the 80s on, the « immigrant problem » invites itself in the political debate: « … What we will call the “immigrant problem” covers diverse social problems that the presence of immigrants poses, among which the schooling of young immigrants, the concentration of immigrants in certain urban areas, the illegitimacy of the presence of immigrants in a time of employment crisis, and the cultural difference» .
In this context of tension, the Belgian authorities set up a double policy:
- limits to the entry or to the settling of new immigrants and measures of incitement to return home;
- the integration of the foreign nationals who have already settled in Belgium, with a policy based on three axes : individual integration through the acquisition of the nationality, fight against racism, and the strictly speaking integration policies (social policies, town and country planning and urban renovation, culture, education, integration into the world of work, fight against petty crime, etc.).
Finally, the issue of asylum-seekers and illegal immigrant workers gains in importance both at quantitative level and in the public debate. Since 1980, the policy that must be led in this field has regularly come back in the current affairs with progressive restrictions on the right of asylum and successive modifications of the law pursuing an aim that consists in reducing the flux of seekers. We also notice a change in the perception of the asylum seeker: from a vision referring in the beginning to the Human Rights issue, we went to a way of envisaging it linked to a problem of disguised economical immigration.
The issue of the regularization of illegally staying foreigners came up several times notably during regularization campaigns in 1974 and in 1999. A similar operation is currently in progress.