Slovak PM says EU migrant policy is 'ritual suicide'

[DigitalDrifter]

It's good to see that there are at least some leaders who "get it".

Prague (AFP) - The European Union is committing a "ritual suicide" with its migration policy, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Tuesday, urging the 28-member bloc to stop the inflow of migrants fast.
"I feel that we in the EU are now committing ritual suicide and we're just looking on," the 51-year-old leftwinger known for his anti-immigrant rhetoric told Czech newspaper Pravo.
Fico, whose party is expected to win a general election in March, said the EU should first of all stop the influx of "illegal migrants".
"If it takes until late 2016 or 2017 for Europe to set up its planned border and coastguard force, the EU will have killed itself," Fico said, adding that Slovakia had 300 police officers ready to deploy at the external borders of the passport-free Schengen area.
"We often stew in our own juices, tackling quotas which are nonsense... and in the meantime several thousand migrants arrive in Europe every day," the premier said.
Slovakia, a eurozone member of 5.4 million people, has filed a lawsuit against the EU-proposed quota system for distributing migrants across the continent, just like neighbouring Hungary.
Fico said the system had turned out "a complete fiasco" and that thousands of migrants distributed according to quotas were impossible to integrate in Slovakia.
"If, based on temporary or permanent quotas, someone forces us to import 50,000 people with completely different habits and religions -- and these are mostly young men -- I can't imagine how we could integrate them. We can't," he said.
"They would end up in a space with its own life and its own rules, and this is why I'm saying this idea is wrong and unfeasible."

Slovak PM says EU migrant policy is 'ritual suicide'

 

[waltky]

EU-Turkey migrant deal not having much effect...

EU-Turkey Migrant Deal Fails to Curb Refugee Arrivals in Greece
March 20, 2016 - Hundreds of mostly Syrian migrants fleeing five years of war continued to make land in Greece on Sunday, arriving on Greek islands in flimsy boats despite an international deal to send migrants back to Turkey.

Witnesses say nearly 900 refugees, including Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, arrived on four Aegean islands overnight into Sunday. Authorities say two Syrian men were found dead in one craft, and two girls drowned near the Turkish mainland off Greek-controlled Rhodes island. The Red Crescent reported nine more migrant deaths off the Libyan coast.

Under the European Union deal reached Friday with the Ankara government, all migrants, including Syrians, arriving in Greece by sea from Turkey after March 20 will be returned once they are registered and their asylum claims have been processed.

A man gets a haircut from a fellow migrant at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece​

But officials continue to warn that return procedures will not be in place before April 4, and are contingent upon EU countries supplying nearly 4,000 staff -- including judges, interpreters and guards -- to manage individual migrant claims.

The deal also requires the Ankara government -- which already hosts more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees -- to step up domestic efforts to crack down on illegal migration. Additionally, it promises $6.6 billion in EU aid to deal with the existing crisis inside Turkey. Those migrants who arrived in Greek territory before Sunday morning will be processed under old rules that say one Syrian will be settled in a European country for each migrant returned to Turkey.

EU-Turkey Migrant Deal Fails to Curb Refugee Arrivals in Greece

See also:

EU-Turkey migrant deal in limbo
March 20, 2016 - An EU-Turkey deal on resettling Syrian migrants took effect Sunday but may be in limbo for the moment, with Greece saying it would not be able to implement it right away.

The influx of people crossing to Greek Islands grew ahead of the deadline and volunteers on the Greek Island of Lesbos were already handling with the first arrivals under the new deal, the BBC reported. Hours before the agreement went in to effect, a four-month-old baby girl drowned off the Turkish coast when a boat carrying migrants sank. Migrants arriving in Greece under this new deal are now expected to be sent back to Turkey if they don't apply for asylum or their claim is rejected. The goal is to discourage people from making the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey to Greece, officials said. For its participation, Turkey will receive aid and political concessions.

Greek officials have been clear they need more manpower to fully implement the deal to return the refugees to Turkey, International Business Times reported. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said his country needs at least 36 hours to fully implement the terms of the agreement, which says that for every Syrian migrant sent back to Turkey, one Syrian already there will be resettled in the EU. "The agreement to send back new arrivals on the islands should, according to the text, enter into force on March 20. But a plan like this cannot be put in place in only 24 hours," Giorgos Kyritsis, the government coordinator for migration policy said.

The deal is not black and white on how immigrants would be sent back to Turkey. Officials in Ankara said they would submit a detailed framework in November on how they would spend 3 billion euros ($3.38 billion), the amount agreed upon by the EU. Security and migration officials and translators, some 2,300 of them, are set to arrive in Greece to help enforce the deal.

EU-Turkey migrant deal in limbo

 

[skye]

It's good to see that there are at least some leaders who "get it".

Prague (AFP) - The European Union is committing a "ritual suicide" with its migration policy, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Tuesday, urging the 28-member bloc to stop the inflow of migrants fast.
"I feel that we in the EU are now committing ritual suicide and we're just looking on," the 51-year-old leftwinger known for his anti-immigrant rhetoric told Czech newspaper Pravo.
Fico, whose party is expected to win a general election in March, said the EU should first of all stop the influx of "illegal migrants".
"If it takes until late 2016 or 2017 for Europe to set up its planned border and coastguard force, the EU will have killed itself," Fico said, adding that Slovakia had 300 police officers ready to deploy at the external borders of the passport-free Schengen area.
"We often stew in our own juices, tackling quotas which are nonsense... and in the meantime several thousand migrants arrive in Europe every day," the premier said.
Slovakia, a eurozone member of 5.4 million people, has filed a lawsuit against the EU-proposed quota system for distributing migrants across the continent, just like neighbouring Hungary.
Fico said the system had turned out "a complete fiasco" and that thousands of migrants distributed according to quotas were impossible to integrate in Slovakia.
"If, based on temporary or permanent quotas, someone forces us to import 50,000 people with completely different habits and religions -- and these are mostly young men -- I can't imagine how we could integrate them. We can't," he said.
"They would end up in a space with its own life and its own rules, and this is why I'm saying this idea is wrong and unfeasible."

Slovak PM says EU migrant policy is 'ritual suicide'

Some countries in Europe have a death wish....having sold their souls the World Wide Government

Some have more brains and much a bigger heart... like Slovakia.