Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors | View firm profile
Nearly all EU leaders, save for Angela Merkel the German Chancellor, agree that the unending tide of # illegal migration into Europe can't continue unabated.
The French President Macron now also agrees, although under
pressure, that economic migration should be discouraged, and those caught
illegally within each country's territory should be removed.
It is no longer a question of Governments lack of building
sufficient houses, schools and hospitals, but the physical practical and
financial inability, without huge increases in taxes, of Governments to keep up
with supply of these facilities, as demand exceeds at a galloping pace the
supply needed, at the perils of the resident European population.
A few days ago, Macron had castigated the Italian PM,
Giuseppe Conte for refusing to take in hundreds of boat migrants largely from
Africa and the Middle East, only then to accept when tensions ran high over the
issue, that there should be proper vetting of migrants, so that those who can
prove that they are in fear of persecution can be granted surrogate protection
and distinguished from economic migrants who should be removed and returned
from where they came.
However, it's simply no good trying to ascertain who is or
is not a genuine refugee once they arrive in Europe as it's a fact that once in
Europe for various reasons Governments lose track of who came in, when and for
what reason. The test should be carried out before these migrants leave their
shores, by the establishment of a European Centre comprising of European
immigration officials interpreting the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the
status of refugees, and the 1950 European Convention for the protection of
human rights and fundamental freedoms, amongst other international treaties
concerning children and human trafficking. It may be an expensive process but
in the long run it could turn out to be economically beneficial.
Austria, Italy and the German hard-line interior minister,
Horst Seehofer and Macron have now agreed to a way forward. Indeed, there has
been some drop-in migrants into Italy recently, but Britain is yet to consider
its approach. It seems however after Brexit the UK with its own laws and
controlling its own borders, would have no interest to joining in a European
alliance to curb migration from outside the EU.
What is becoming clear however, is that Angela Merkel the
German Chancellor, leading a weak coalition Government is now more isolated
than ever with her open-door policy. She has not been forgiven for allowing in
to Germany between 2016/ 2017 some 1.2 million migrants without any vetting
whatsoever, at a huge cost to the German economy, particularly since most of
those migrants are still jobless, and have contributed to crime and terrorism
in the country. Her coalition partner Horst Seehofer has vowed that unless she
agrees that tight reins are to be placed on migrants into Germany, with proper
vetting in place, he intends to make provision to send back a number of
migrants in Germany back to the third safe country from where they came, such
as Italy and Greece. It seems to me if he carries out his threat, Merkel will
have no option but to sack him, which will lead eventually to the political
demise of this Chancellor, and with it, to the beginning of the end of the EU.
Well, the chickens have come to roost, as Merkel now is
fighting for her political career, after her reckless open policy
provoked a humiliating political backlash.
It is my view that after Brexit, the EU in years to come
will fragment on the issue of migration, unless a European solution is found.
The end is nigh!
At Gulbenkian
Andonian Solicitors in London we are proud to be at the forefront of legal
opinion and guidance, respected by our clients and colleagues within the law industry alike.