Refugees from Afghanistan to Europe

**Östsvensk** · 08-02-2021, 01:48 PM

Many are fleeing the country internally and the largest wave of refugees is coming to neighboring areas and countries such as Iran and Pakistan, according to the director general.

- But it is of course so that the worse it gets in a country, the bigger the flight will be. And then many people want to go to Europe, he says.

What preparedness do you have for the fact that an increasing number of asylum seekers may come from Afghanistan?

- We have been working with the emergency preparedness issue since the autumn of 2015. It is about how to prioritize and collaborate with other authorities and with municipalities. In that respect, our preparedness is good, he says.

But the crucial elements for managing a more comprehensive reception are missing.

- The most important components for coping with a refugee wave like in 2015 are housing and staff who can handle it, we do not have that. We do not have 100,000 empty accommodation places waiting. We were 9,000 at the Swedish Migration Agency at most, now we are 5,000, we have no reserve left.

However, the Swedish Migration Agency does not consider that Europe will end up in a similar situation as in 2015.

- Europe might just shut down instead of waving on like 2015, when many countries let people pass through the country. But other things can happen. We see, for example, that a completely new route is being opened up in Belarus and Lithuania. Will it increase the number of asylum seekers to Sweden? We do not know that yet, says Mikael Ribbenvik, who does not want to be alarmist.

He refers to the recent opening of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to release refugees and migrants across the border into Lithuania. According to the news agency AFP, more than 1,000 people crossed the border from Belarus into Lithuania in July.

- At the bottom lies the EU's conflict with Belarus. As Lukashenko has gone further and further, it culminated in the creation of aircraft (when the regime arrested journalist Raman Pratasevich, editor's note). He is hard-working and it seems that he wants to test what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has done, namely to use refugees as weapons, says Ribbenvik.

The EU Border and Coast Guard Agency has moved border staff to the Lithuanian border and sent a team from the Union's asylum authority EASO. Lithuania recently voted in favor of a new, stricter law aimed at restricting migrants' rights.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has said that the target of migrants is probably not Lithuania but rather Germany, Sweden and some other countries.

On July 20, Sweden's new migration legislation came into force. Mikael Ribbenvik does not want to answer the question of whether the new legislation will lead to more or fewer asylum seekers.

- There is a political debate about it so I choose to be quite careful. There are always many different variables that come into play. The legislation is a part, he says.

The authority expects that the number of people applying to Sweden will increase next year, as the pandemic restrictions are likely to ease.

- What will Europe's borders look like after covid? Will the controls remain? And how do other countries act along the routes? Sometimes it can be rumors that drive certain currents. And most of the amended law has already been in the temporary law for five years. And this law is quite similar to the previous one, the temporary one that has been in force for the last five years.

Quoted and translated from: https://web.archive.org/web/20210802...y-flyktingvag/

**Grace O'Malley** · 08-02-2021, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by Östsvensk

Many are fleeing the country internally and the largest wave of refugees is coming to neighboring areas and countries such as Iran and Pakistan, according to the director general.

- But it is of course so that the worse it gets in a country, the bigger the flight will be. And then many people want to go to Europe, he says.

What preparedness do you have for the fact that an increasing number of asylum seekers may come from Afghanistan?

- We have been working with the emergency preparedness issue since the autumn of 2015. It is about how to prioritize and collaborate with other authorities and with municipalities. In that respect, our preparedness is good, he says.

But the crucial elements for managing a more comprehensive reception are missing.

- The most important components for coping with a refugee wave like in 2015 are housing and staff who can handle it, we do not have that. We do not have 100,000 empty accommodation places waiting. We were 9,000 at the Swedish Migration Agency at most, now we are 5,000, we have no reserve left.

However, the Swedish Migration Agency does not consider that Europe will end up in a similar situation as in 2015.

- Europe might just shut down instead of waving on like 2015, when many countries let people pass through the country. But other things can happen. We see, for example, that a completely new route is being opened up in Belarus and Lithuania. Will it increase the number of asylum seekers to Sweden? We do not know that yet, says Mikael Ribbenvik, who does not want to be alarmist.

He refers to the recent opening of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to release refugees and migrants across the border into Lithuania. According to the news agency AFP, more than 1,000 people crossed the border from Belarus into Lithuania in July.

- At the bottom lies the EU's conflict with Belarus. As Lukashenko has gone further and further, it culminated in the creation of aircraft (when the regime arrested journalist Raman Pratasevich, editor's note). He is hard-working and it seems that he wants to test what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has done, namely to use refugees as weapons, says Ribbenvik.

The EU Border and Coast Guard Agency has moved border staff to the Lithuanian border and sent a team from the Union's asylum authority EASO. Lithuania recently voted in favor of a new, stricter law aimed at restricting migrants' rights.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has said that the target of migrants is probably not Lithuania but rather Germany, Sweden and some other countries.

On July 20, Sweden's new migration legislation came into force. Mikael Ribbenvik does not want to answer the question of whether the new legislation will lead to more or fewer asylum seekers.

- There is a political debate about it so I choose to be quite careful. There are always many different variables that come into play. The legislation is a part, he says.

The authority expects that the number of people applying to Sweden will increase next year, as the pandemic restrictions are likely to ease.

- What will Europe's borders look like after covid? Will the controls remain? And how do other countries act along the routes? Sometimes it can be rumors that drive certain currents. And most of the amended law has already been in the temporary law for five years. And this law is quite similar to the previous one, the temporary one that has been in force for the last five years.

Quoted and translated from: https://web.archive.org/web/20210802...y-flyktingvag/

I think Europeans are getting overwhelmed by the refugee situation. Many countries appear to want to tighten up with more restrictions. There are just too many to house and they are an increasing burden on European populations. I think European governments are going to have to start looking at things like how are they going to absorb these endless amounts of people seeking asylum. It would need a worldwide solution. Personally I think refugees should only be given temporary visas and not permanent settlement. You have to take into account future demographics, cost and how to assimilate people. Some countries now have started to get tougher. Denmark is a good example and from reading English papers the Government is trying to look at other ways of dealing with the refugee situation such as possible off-shore detention. A big headache that's for sure.

If Europeans don't get a handle on this I can see a lot of right-wing parties being voted in.

**Incal** · 08-02-2021, 04:34 PM

Massive immigration is harmful to any country but muslim immigration is particularly detrimental since you are allowing savages who are stuck some 500 years in the past.