TAPESCRIPT Livello 3

02 Europe as a continent of immigrants

Interviewer: (The) recent wave of immigration to Europe will make Europe a continent of
immigrants similar to the United States. What are your thoughts on that subject?
Interviewee: Well, certainly immigration will have a number of effects on Europe, on European
societies. They will become more diverse. But I doubt very much that Europe will
ever become a continent of immigrants in the same sense that the United States is a
country of immigrants. I think that the two situations are too different for that to
happen. You have to remember that most of the current population of the United
States can be traced back to immigration. Immigrants to the United States have
taken over practically the entire country from the original indigenous inhabitants.
And that was possible because the arriving Europeans had a much higher level of
technology than the indigenous Native American cultures. So in Europe, today, we
have long established populations in every country and theyre making room for new
immigrants, but thats another issue, another area of difference. America even today
is still, by Europeans standards, relatively sparsely populated. So America has a lot
more room to accept more people. Europe is densely populated and has long
established populations. Certainly it will become more diverse, but I dont think
well ever reach a situation in which Europe is as much a continent of immigrants as
the United States is a country of immigrants.