The UAE should be a dystopian sight in this regard for other countries: a growing, disenfranchised noncitizen body, largely of working age, is a feature in lots of places. Leaving these people without civic rights will undermine actual democracies in the coming years. https://twitter.com/iyad_elbaghdadi/status/1295670847777255426

The EU in particular needs a serious pan-European movement to enfranchise permanent residents everywhere. The alternative is growing perverse incentives for citizens to rely on squeezing non-citizens in order to fund the services they use.

This could easily be exacerbated by nationalist governments, as we've seen in the UK with the Windrush scandal - governments can take measures to strip 'undesirables' of citizenship, in many cases retaining them within the tax base but reducing the voting franchise.

But the issue is there equally for countries that think of themselves as open and cosmopolitan: happy to welcome people in as long as they consent to taxation without representation, and to a life of wading through frequently hostile bureaucratic systems.

The problem in the UAE is obvious: the majority of the population could want something and have no say. But that's already true in much of Europe! Tight elections are frequently decided by fewer votes than the country's migrant population would have been able to cast.

The fundamental issue is that even on the left many people buy into fundamental antimigrant propaganda. I've had lefty friends opine that, well, migrants who aren't citizens aren't so permanent, so maybe they don't have good long term incentives to care for the country in voting?

This falls down on two counts. Count one: nor do many actual citizens. "Do you really care" is not a bar that we set for citizens: birth does not, obviously. say anything about how much you care about other people or the place you live in.

People vote by their own beliefs/interests: that's fine, it's why we need democracy!

As for future plans: nobody would suggest a sick 92 year old given a year to live should be disenfranchised, and they have less future incentive than someone coming in on a 3 year work contract.

Second problem with "maybe non-citizens care less": the barrier to becoming a citizen is not "do you care", it's "do you have the large amount of social and financial resources needed to go through this process". And in some countries, "oh and give up your previous passport too."

I *can't* become a citizen of Austria. I probably could learn German to the required standard, and I'll have lived here long enough by the time I finish my PhD (after half a decade of being permitted to pay taxes and teach students but not have a democratic voice here)...

...but fundamentally, dual nationality isn't permitted under Austrian law, and I can't relinquish my native UK passport that gives me automatic rights to, you know, see my family and look after them if needed. That's not the sort of choice anyone should be asked to make.

There have been some tentative moves in the right direction - the 2015 Luxembourg referendum was, whilst it failed, a good start at getting this issue onto the table (Luxembourg being one of Europe's most disenfranchised states - ca half the population can't vote).

But we need groups like @ALDEParty and @GreensEFA and their member parties to work this into the core of manifestos and get it into mainstream political discussion. It's do-able, but it will take bravery and political will for the democratic liberal-left to advance our values.

Fundamentally the bar for "should you be allowed to vote" in a public election should be "are you living under the jurisdiction of the body you are voting for"?

Anything else starts a slide away from effective, meaningful democracy. Europe should avoid that road.

/thread