The contribution and challenges of ethnic minority businesses in Europe Minority businesses in Europe, of which there at least 800,000, contribute at least €570 billion to the economy and employ at least 2.7 million people, according to OPEN’s pioneering new report with MSDUK. Key findings include: the first-ever list of the top 50 minority businesses in Europe; studies of the contribution of dynamic minority entrepreneurs in the tech, healthcare and …
Continue readingEQUIP Europe
Why an increasingly diverse Europe needs EQUality In Procurement for ethnic minority entrepreneurs The world’s first Covid vaccine was developed by BioNTech, a German biotechnology company founded and led by scientists of Turkish origin. CEO Uğur Şahin was born in Turkey and moved to Germany as a child to live with his father, who was a “guest worker” in a car factory in Cologne. His co-founder – and wife – …
Continue readingMinority Businesses Matter
Businesses led by ethnic-minority entrepreneurs contribute at least £74 billion a year to the UK, according to a new OPEN report by Philippe Legrain and Martyn Fitzgerald published today.
Continue readingMilitarising the US-Mexican border
Plus: the value of asylum seekers; Brexit; after Merkel As so often with Donald Trump, the move is both for show and at the same time deadly serious. Sending up to 15,000 US troops to defend the border with Mexico against an unarmed “caravan” of Central Americans fleeing violence to seek refuge in America is primarily a way of rallying the Republican base for today’s crucial midterm elections. The images …
Continue readingThe new global talent race
With Trump’s America and Brexit Britain turning away talented migrants, Canada and Australia are well placed to capitalise By Jack Graham From tech gurus to top scientists, every country says it wants to attract the best brains. Highly-skilled workers are increasingly mobile, and help to stimulate innovation, enterprise, jobs and growth. But while the global competition for talent is nothing new, the contest has recently changed. Two of the leading …
Continue readingHow do we persuade sceptics of the value of immigration?; overcoming the politics of pessimism
Image thanks to Max Pixel By Philippe Legrain Openness to immigration is a good thing, as I hope you agree. But how can we persuade moderate sceptics? Presenting rational arguments and evidence is important, but often insufficient. As part of its excellent Open Future series, The Economist has published an open essay by Philippe Legrain on this topic. The first part is out today, and the subsequent parts will feature readers’ best …
Continue readingPushing back against anti-immigrant forces; EU democracy; trade wars
For the first time in years, anti-immigrant hardliners in the UK are on the back foot. The Windrush scandal has generated an outpouring of support for people who have contributed so much to Britain for so many years, only to be threatened with deportation by Home Office officials because they couldn’t prove their immigration status – a chilling reminder that without proper safeguards some EU citizens could suffer a similar post-Brexit fate. The new …
Continue readingOPEN briefing: migrants’ right to vote, Brexit blunders, good news on refugees
Nativists are in the ascendant in many countries right now. Governments are responding by curtailing migrants’ rights. And whether it is Brexit Britain or Trump’s America, immigrants are often powerless to fight back. That needs to change. Giving long-term foreign residents the right to vote isn’t just a matter of human rights, it’s about bringing democracy into the 21st century, argues Iana Dreyer in a must-read new piece for OPEN. Electing the people who …
Continue readingIt’s time to give migrants the vote
By Iana Dreyer “No taxation without representation” is a basic democratic principle. Surely that should apply to long-term foreign residents too? The evidence is overwhelming: immigrants generally enrich the countries they move to, both economically and culturally. They do valuable work, start businesses, stimulate innovation, create jobs, pay taxes and boost economic growth – all of which benefits local residents. Why, then, are politicians often so hostile to them? One …
Continue readingWho said populism had peaked? Plus Global Compact, steel tariffs & more
Following the Brexit vote and Trump’s victory in 2016, many feared that a populist wave would sweep through Europe. But with the decisive victory of Emmanuel Macron over Marine Le Pen in France’s presidential election last year, anxiety quickly morphed into complacency. Yet France came perilously close to a presidential run-off between far-right and far-left anti-EU populists. Austria’s election was won by a conservative party that has adopted much of …
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