ABSTRACT
One of the most striking features of the New Europe is the extent to which the late 1980s and the 1990s have seen concerted efforts by Western European governments to develop new and tougher forms of immigration control. Among the member states of the European Union in particular, there have been attempts to harmonise national policies relating to matters of immigration and asylum as a consequence of the creation of the Single Market and the potential that this has brought about for increased labour mobility across the European Union (EU). In the 1987 Single European Act, the then-European Community was defined as an area without internal frontiers. To make this a reality, the Act envisages the progressive abolition of all internal border controls to permit free movement within the Community. Although there is still some way to go before this goal is fully realised, a substantial degree of policy harmonisation has occurred and there is now in place a framework of policies, administrative rules and procedures that is applied with increasing consistency across the EU.
