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§ Many migrants simply refused to leave, disappeared, or their home
countries refused to receive them.
§ The European Commission published a "report card" on the
EU member states' "progress" in taking the allocated quotas of
migrants. Even Sweden, on the brink of societal collapse from the influx of
migrants, was told that it was only "close" to reaching its quota.
§ ISIS apparently has at its disposal some 11,000 stolen blank
Syrian passports that it could put to use in order to smuggle its terrorists
into Europe under fake identities; at the same time, more European ISIS
fighters are expected to return to Europe. Why does the EU want to make it easy
for them?
On September 13, the President of the
European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, Jean Claude
Juncker gave his State of the Union Address
to the European Parliament, saying:
"Last year... Europe was battered
and bruised by a year that shook our very foundation. We only had two choices.
Either come together around a positive European agenda or each retreat into our
own corners... I argued for unity. I proposed a positive agenda to help create
... a Europe that protects, empowers and defends... Over the past twelve
months, the European Parliament has helped bring this agenda to life. We
continue to make progress with each passing day... In the last year, we saw all
27 leaders... renew their vows... to our Union. All of this leads me to
believe: the wind is back in Europe's sails."
Most EU citizens probably wondered what
EU Juncker was talking about. The EU Juncker inhabits does not appear to be the
same one most Europeans live in.
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Jean
Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, gives his State of the
Union Address to the European Parliament on September 13. (Image source:
European Parliament)
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This past year in Europe, a terrorist
attack was attempted every seven days, on
average. Juncker delivered his speech just two days before yet another
terrorist attack, this time on the London underground, perpetrated by an
18-year old migrant. The European Commission, however, does not appear
particularly concerned with such matters. Juncker mentioned terrorism only very
briefly toward the very end of his long speech, almost as if it were an
afterthought:
"The European Union must also be
stronger in fighting terrorism. In the past three years, we have made real
progress. But we still lack the means to act quickly in case of cross-border
terrorist threats. This is why I call for a European intelligence unit that
ensures data concerning terrorists and foreign fighters are automatically
shared among intelligence services and with the police".
"Real progress"? The last three
years saw an enormous surge in large-scale terrorist attacks in European
cities: The ISIS attacks in Paris in November 2015, the Brussels attacks in
March 2016, the Nice attack in July 2016, the Berlin Christmas Market attack in
December 2016, and the Manchester attack in May 2017 -- and those are just the
most spectacular ones. The hundreds of people killed and thousands more maimed
would probably not subscribe to Juncker's definition of "progress".
Moreover, 16 years after 9/11 -- and the
large-scale attacks that followed in Europe just a few years later -- it seems
a bit embarrassing that the president of the European Commission is calling for
enabling automatic data-sharing among intelligence services and police. Should
that not have been in place more than a decade ago?
Juncker spoke of the five main priorities
of the EU Commission for the coming year. Strengthening trade and industry were
first and second on the list of priorities; climate change, third, and
protecting Europe from cyber-attacks fourth. The issue of migration came last.
Migration, Juncker said, choosing casual words, "will stay on our
radar". He tried to claim that the EU is "protecting Europe's
external borders more effectively" by adding the ridiculously small number
of 1,700 officers from the new European Border and Coast Guard to aid
member-states patrol places such as Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and Spain. He also
claimed, "We have managed to stem irregular flows of migrants, which were
a cause of great anxiety for many" -- making it sound as if the problem
were European "anxiety", rather than the invasion of the continent by
millions of mainly young Muslim men, several of whom have turned out to be
Islamic terrorists.
Juncker made it clear that whatever
Europeans may think -- polls repeatedly show that the majority of Europeans do
not want any more migrants -- the EU does not intend to put a stop to
migration. With ill-concealed reference to the Central and Eastern European
member states' refusal to bow to EU demands, Juncker said:
"Even if it saddens me to see that
solidarity is not yet equally shared across all our Member States, Europe as a
whole has continued to show solidarity. Last year alone, our Member States
resettled or granted asylum to over 720,000 refugees -- three times as much as
the United States, Canada and Australia combined. Europe, contrary to what some
say, is not a fortress and must never become one. Europe is and must remain the
continent of solidarity where those fleeing persecution can find refuge".
Juncker also spoke about the issue of
repatriation, a matter most European politicians gave up on years ago, even if
they continue to say what they know their electorates want to hear:
"When it comes to returns: people
who have no right to stay in Europe must be returned to their countries of
origin. When only 36% of irregular migrants are returned, it is clear we need
to significantly step up our work. This is the only way Europe will be able to
show solidarity with refugees in real need of protection".
Hardly any migrants are returned to their
countries of origin, nor are they ever likely to be. As Juncker well knows, it
is too complicated and too expensive. Sweden serves as an example: In 2015, Sweden
received a record 163,000 migrants. In January 2016, the Swedish government
stated that 80,000 of them were not eligible for asylum and would have to be
repatriated. In 2016, however, only a fraction of the migrants were sent back:
roughly 4,000 out of the original 80,000 -- and at an extremely high price. 784
of the migrants were flown back home at a cost to Swedish taxpayers of 45.6
million Swedish kroner ($5.6 million).
Many migrants simply refused to leave,
disappeared, or their home countries refused to receive them. The Swedish
authorities paid one Moroccan
migrant, Kader Bencheref -- a dangerous convicted rapist -- 40,000 Swedish
Kroner ($5,000) before he finally agreed to be flown out of Sweden. A Sudanese
migrant cost taxpayers 1 million Swedish kroner ($125,000) in botched attempts
at repatriation: after being sent away by Sudan, the plane had to return to
Sweden. Sometimes migrants are flown in expensive chartered private planes.
The European Commission, however, has
little patience for such details. In a press release published September 6, the
Commission published a sort of "report card" on the EU member states'
"progress" in taking the allocated quotas of migrants. Even Sweden,
on the brink of societal collapse from
the influx of migrants, was told that it was only "close" to reaching
its quota.
Finally, Juncker spoke of the need to
extend the borderless area to those EU countries that are not parties to the
Schengen agreement -- establishing that the EU should have no internal
borders. Juncker said he hopes that by March 30, 2019, the Schengen area will
have "become the norm for all EU Member States". As terrorists posing
as migrants travel unhindered through Europe, the Schengen agreement has been
proven an enormous mistake. But why bother with facts?
ISIS apparently has at its disposal some 11,000 stolen blank Syrian
passports that it could put to use in order to smuggle its
terrorists into Europe under fake identities; at the same time, more European
ISIS fighters are expected to return to
Europe. Why does the EU want to make it easy for them?
Juncker spoke about the "unity"
of the EU, but the EU has never been less unified. On September 6, the European
Court of Justice ruled that the European
Commission has the right to order EU member states to take in asylum seekers,
and that EU member states have no legal right to resist those orders. As the EU
continued to impose its will upon states that refuse to bow to its demands,
Hungary's and Slovakia's complaints were thrown out. This show of force by the
EU can be called many things -- "unity" is not one of them.
Judith Bergman is a columnist, lawyer and
political analyst.