The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, has criticised Angela Merkel’s handling of the refugee crisis currently engulfing Europe.
Orban argues that Merkel’s decision to relax rules for Syrian refugees claiming asylum in Germany is deepening the crisis, and that many of the refugees are actually economic migrants who want to live a German life.
Orban is right to criticise Merkel’s handling of the crisis as Merkel’s decision to relax the rules is undoubtedly exacerbating matters, and could even result in causing a humanitarian crisis.
A refugee who flees a war-torn country should claim asylum in the first safe country that they reach, and Orban appears to be arguing for the enforcement of existing rules.
Orban’s comments were made against the backdrop of protests in Hungary in which thousands of refugees, mostly men between the ages of 18 – 35, demanded the right to leave Hungary and depart for Germany. The images were troubling because you would expect refugees to be grateful for having reached a safe haven, and not demanding the right to pick and choose which country in Europe to settle in. They seemed to be behaving with an air of entitlement.
It’s also likely that many of the refugees are not Syrians, and the large numbers arriving makes sifting out fraudulent applications much more difficult.
Germany has a demographic time-bomb and it would appear that Merkel is exploiting this crisis to boost population levels. Germany has an ageing society and there are simply not enough children being born.
It’s not only Germany that has demographic problems – many majority-white European nations have low birth rates and the only reason why Britain’s population levels are stable is because of immigration.
Radical feminism has played a role in the breakdown of families, and it has always been most popular in Western nations and among mainly white, upper middle class, liberal women. You rarely hear Indian, Asian or Muslim women chanting slogans about “smashing the male patriarchy”.
Orban has also warned that the large influx of refugees/migrants entering Europe from the Middle East threatens Europe’s cultural identity and European Christianity. I’m inclined to agree with him and I think he is right to raise the issue.
Helping refugees is paramount but one-size-fits-all approaches cannot always be applied. What I also find shocking in the debate about refugee levels is the total lack of disregard for the safety of women in Europe.
Sweden is now the number one rape capital of Europe, and rape levels increased when the country started accepting large numbers of asylum seekers. It’s shocking that feminists rarely mention the Sweden rape crisis, and it’s also rarely mentioned in mainstream newspapers.
A lot of the enforced silence about the shockingly high rape levels is due to political correctness and a fear of offending the demographic that is largely responsible for committing a large number of the rapes.
The vast majority of the refugees shown on TV seem to be men, and there are few women. This has the potential to cause real tensions.
I’m also not convinced that it is a good idea for citizens to be accepting refugees fleeing war zones into their homes as you simply don’t know who you are letting in. Refugees fleeing ISIS and radical Islamic extremists should be closely monitored by CBT therapists for signs of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
ISIS has warned that they would send jihadists to attack Europe and this threat should be taken very seriously.
In the case of refugees/migrants departing from Libyan seas and entering Europe, there is evidence that many are economic migrants jumping the queue, as many arriving in Italy are from countries where there is no civil war. Such a situation could only lead to calls for the recolonisation of Africa for the “common good” as a means of bringing stability so people don’t attempt the boat crossings. Behind the talk of politics for the “common good” lays the threat of neo-colonialism and imperialism as an unintended consequence. Stopping all foreign aid would be the best way of helping African nations.
Merkel has suggested a quota system for distributing refugees across Europe. Many Eastern European nations within the EU don’t have a history of integrating different ethnic groups and religions, and an enforced quota risks destabilising those countries. There are ISIS training camps in Bosnia, and if the EU is not careful, radical Islam will establish itself in Eastern Europe.
Orban has stated that the EU is “in the grip of madness” and I wonder if Eastern European nations will tire of the EU’s multi-cultural, metropolitan liberal, utopian world view, and voluntarily choose to realign itself with Putin’s Russia, as a Europe Union unwilling to protect itself from an invasion of refugees/migrants from the Middle East and Africa may be considered as being the more dangerous option. Putin, who I am not a fan of, promotes patriotism, has placed the Russian Orthodox Church at the centre of affairs, and is trying to promote more family-friendly policies. I wonder if countries like Hungary might in the future decide that Putin’s vision is a better bet than the European Union’s.
The refugee crisis currently engulfing Europe is exposing the tensions between the Northern and Eastern European nations and the contradictions at the heart of free movement of people, which is very one-sided. Any talk of quotas is useless if borders won’t be sealed and migrants simply leave for wealthier nations after they attain residence status.
EU leaders seem unwilling to do anything about the crisis, or adopt the Australian approach. Australia simply stopped the boats. Therefore the tensions between Northern and Eastern European nations can only grow.
