Europe in Migrant Turmoil
"[EU nations have to see] how can we help each other without always having to wait for all 28, but by thinking what's important to whom."
"It is also about bi- and trilateral agreements for mutual benefit [in coping with short-term migration pressures]."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
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| Migrants, part of a group intercepted aboard dinghies off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea, are seen on a rescue boat upon arrival at the port of Malaga, Spain on Saturday. (Jon Nazca/Reuters) |
Europe appears to be in an ethics war with itself. With the 'enlightened', wealthier open-border states virtuously condemning the 'nationalist' closed-border-minded eastern EU members for their unwillingness to dilute themselves, their history, culture, laws, legacy and religious convictions to any extent resembling those of the western Europeans whose population base is now suffocating with the tendentious and troubling arrival of economic migrants straining the capacity of social services and the initial willingness to absorb them.
Italy, Greece and Spain have paid the price of geographic proximity, unwillingly receiving boatloads of haven seekers and migrants from North Africa and the Middle East beyond their capacity to accommodate and absorb them. And though they have pleaded repeatedly with their neighbours for relief, that relief has been slow in arriving, if at all. After all, they represent the first countries of asylum. Germany has absorbed more than its 'share' of the unwanted, and they will pay the price for that choice long into the future, even as they now do, with the growing prevalence of violence.
Italy would like to see a "paradigm change" in the manner in which Europe manages migration preferably to do so with the determination that will stop the flow altogether by some magical means of persuading those willing to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean that life is better for them at home and they should remain there to dedicate themselves to changing the environment in their nations of birth rather than forcing other nations to accommodate their needs.
It is beyond obvious that Muslim-majority countries are the source of most migrants eager to escape the violence and dysfunction that prevail there.
The Dublin Regulations whereby migrants must apply for asylum in the first European country where they land hasn't much favour in Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's opinion, much less that of Greece or Spain. Around 40,000 people have arrived thus far this year in Europe by sea. Italy has received about 15,000, Greece 12,000 and Spain another 12,000. The burden of their accommodation on top of those already absorbed in the past several years is exacerbating the economy and the social services meant to provide support to their own populations.
In desperation, the EU is now considering the need and functionality of establishing migrant screening operations for asylum seekers in North Africa and the Balkans to alleviate tension between EU nations. France and Germany in the lead, 15 EU countries have been discussing how long Italy, Greece and Spain should be expected to absorb the migrants, and how and whether the EU as a whole should be involved. 2018 anticipates that 80,000 migrants will enter Europe by sea, according to recent trends, joining the millions that already have.
Plans are being discussed for screening centres to be set up in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia, and possibly Albania as well; Muslim countries all. "The method that we are going to adopt" involves "working together vis-a-vis the countries of transit and origin outside the European Union", stated French President Emmanuel Macron. Libya remains the major exit point for Europe-bound migrants. "It's a political crisis that Europe and the European Union is mostly living today", he under-stated.
Labels: Crisis Management, European Union, Migrants
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, June 26, 2018
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