Marusya
05-29-2015, 06:16 AM
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Migrants rescued from the Mediterranean
Le Monde (France): After a year of “behaving like an ostrich,” the European Union is finally addressing the migrant crisis unfolding on its southern shores, said Le Monde (France) in an editorial. Tens of thousands of people from Africa and the Middle East have surged across the Mediterranean in the past few months, and more than 1,800 have died trying to reach Europe. Migrants who survive the perilous journey have been left to “pile up in warehouses in the coastal countries” of Italy, Malta, and Greece, which is unfair to those nations and cruel to the asylum seekers. Last week, though, the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, hammered out a quota system for absorbing 20,000 refugees over the next two years. The migrants will be distributed among the EU’s member countries—except for the U.K., Ireland, and Denmark, which can opt out under EU rules—based on nations’ population size, wealth levels, and unemployment rates. The system isn’t perfect, and it still needs to be ratified at an EU summit in June. But at least Brussels is beginning to tackle “the problem head-on.”
http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2015/05/14/quotas-migratoires-un-pas-dans-la-bonne-direction_4633555_3232.html
Ryszard Czarnecki in Gazeta Polska Codziennie (Poland): How presumptuous of the EU to saddle Central Europe with African refugees, said Ryszard Czarnecki in Gazeta Polska Codziennie (Poland). The U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy all had colonies in Africa that “ultimately contributed to their current wealth.” Those countries plundered the continent’s resources and labor while destroying its indigenous social structures. If Africa is now roiled by conflict and poverty, it’s not Poland’s fault—so why should we, or the Czechs, or the Bulgarians, have to take in the refugees? Let the rich EU countries “shoulder the burden of their colonial past.”
Milos Balaban in Právo (Czech Republic): A better solution would be to treat the problem at the source, said Milos Balaban in Právo (Czech Republic). Taking in these people “could fuel political conflicts” here in Europe and “increase the influence of far-right parties.” Brussels’ other proposal is the better one—to send European navies to patrol the Libyan coast, turn back smuggler ships and return the migrants to shore, and then sink those vessels so they can’t be used again. The EU wants to proceed with both the military mission and the quota system, but many countries would prefer just the former.
Thomas Mayer, Der Standard (Austria): European countries don’t want to destroy those boats just because they’re concerned about “humanitarian issues and refugees,” said Thomas Mayer in Der Standard (Austria). Western intelligence agencies report that Libyan militants allied to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have been collecting protection money from migrants and people smugglers that helps fund ISIS’ terrorist operations. Meanwhile, the Libyan government claims that ISIS is transporting its members to the West by hiding them among migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Refugees are already destabilizing Europe; radicalized refugees would be the Continent’s worst nightmare.
Editorials compiled, translated and paraphrased by THE WEEK
May 29, 2015
Migrants rescued from the Mediterranean
Le Monde (France): After a year of “behaving like an ostrich,” the European Union is finally addressing the migrant crisis unfolding on its southern shores, said Le Monde (France) in an editorial. Tens of thousands of people from Africa and the Middle East have surged across the Mediterranean in the past few months, and more than 1,800 have died trying to reach Europe. Migrants who survive the perilous journey have been left to “pile up in warehouses in the coastal countries” of Italy, Malta, and Greece, which is unfair to those nations and cruel to the asylum seekers. Last week, though, the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, hammered out a quota system for absorbing 20,000 refugees over the next two years. The migrants will be distributed among the EU’s member countries—except for the U.K., Ireland, and Denmark, which can opt out under EU rules—based on nations’ population size, wealth levels, and unemployment rates. The system isn’t perfect, and it still needs to be ratified at an EU summit in June. But at least Brussels is beginning to tackle “the problem head-on.”
http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2015/05/14/quotas-migratoires-un-pas-dans-la-bonne-direction_4633555_3232.html
Ryszard Czarnecki in Gazeta Polska Codziennie (Poland): How presumptuous of the EU to saddle Central Europe with African refugees, said Ryszard Czarnecki in Gazeta Polska Codziennie (Poland). The U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy all had colonies in Africa that “ultimately contributed to their current wealth.” Those countries plundered the continent’s resources and labor while destroying its indigenous social structures. If Africa is now roiled by conflict and poverty, it’s not Poland’s fault—so why should we, or the Czechs, or the Bulgarians, have to take in the refugees? Let the rich EU countries “shoulder the burden of their colonial past.”
Milos Balaban in Právo (Czech Republic): A better solution would be to treat the problem at the source, said Milos Balaban in Právo (Czech Republic). Taking in these people “could fuel political conflicts” here in Europe and “increase the influence of far-right parties.” Brussels’ other proposal is the better one—to send European navies to patrol the Libyan coast, turn back smuggler ships and return the migrants to shore, and then sink those vessels so they can’t be used again. The EU wants to proceed with both the military mission and the quota system, but many countries would prefer just the former.
Thomas Mayer, Der Standard (Austria): European countries don’t want to destroy those boats just because they’re concerned about “humanitarian issues and refugees,” said Thomas Mayer in Der Standard (Austria). Western intelligence agencies report that Libyan militants allied to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have been collecting protection money from migrants and people smugglers that helps fund ISIS’ terrorist operations. Meanwhile, the Libyan government claims that ISIS is transporting its members to the West by hiding them among migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Refugees are already destabilizing Europe; radicalized refugees would be the Continent’s worst nightmare.
Editorials compiled, translated and paraphrased by THE WEEK
May 29, 2015