Europe faces another wave of refugees: even Merkel’s position is changing

The last plane of the German Armed Forces, June 29. Promoted from the base in Mazari Sharif, Majid Saddad, head of the local civil airport, accompanied him with a sad comment: “The friendship of 20 years is over. Last night they promised me that one day we would return to our families as tourists, not as soldiers ”.

However, such a promise to Afghans sounds more like a mockery, seeing the rate at which the Taliban are withdrawing, comments WDR correspondent Silke Diettrich on the Afghanistan report.

And indeed, the opposite may soon happen: it is not Germans with their families who will travel to Afghanistan as tourists, but Afghans with their families who will travel to Germany as refugees. According to the Afghan government spokesman, H. Mohib, millions of Afghans are leaving their homes and fleeing to cities for the time being as a result of the escalation of the war.

“We try to give them shelter, to give them. But it is difficult for a poor country, devastated by war and with limited resources to do so,” he said.

How many of these people will eventually reach Europe will depend on their financial means, Mohid explained to the German publication Bild.

Sebastian Kurz determined to do everything possible to avoid a repeat of the “2015 scenario”

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (Austrian People’s Party, ÖVP) is well aware of the unenviable position of some Afghans.

“The people there are in a dramatic situation and that will generate migratory flows,” he said on July 25. On Bild’s political talk show “Right Questions.” The 34-year-old politician is determined to do everything possible to prevent a repeat of the “2015 scenario” in Europe.

He is convinced that we will not solve Afghanistan’s problems by accepting people from there en masse, as in 2015. Germany and Austria did. Therefore, he is “very satisfied” that the course in Europe and Germany has changed as a result of uncontrolled immigration.

At the same time, he did not miss the opportunity to take a critical look at the EU asylum law: “The right to asylum was conceived as an individual right of people persecuted for political or religious reasons. It has never been foreseen that entire countries or regions can circulate on the road, that visitors from Europe choose the country they want and say: I want to go to Germany. Its creators never referred to that right of asylum. “

Europe must better protect its borders. “If we don’t want what was repeated then, we, as the European Union, must act now, in the summer,” Kurz said. He promised to continue a consistent policy of expelling Afghans, even if more regions of the country came under the control of the Taliban.

They don’t want to import “that sick ideology.”

The Austrian Chancellor bases his strict position on several solid arguments. First of all, he is concerned that Islamists will come to the country with migrants and refugees: “I don’t want that sick ideology to be imported into Europe,” he told Bild.

“There is already a widespread rumor that this mass migration of completely different cultures, as well as people with little or no education, has caused major problems for Europe. Just look at the security situation in the French suburbs, what we are experiencing repeatedly in Belgium, in other countries and in Austria itself, ”said S. Kurz.

“Thank God there are many people who integrate well, but we have a large number of people who have brought their mentality to Europe. “Migratory flows in recent years have brought a lot of anti-Semitism to Europe, and now we have a lot of people who are clearly homophobic and who do not necessarily respect women’s rights,” he continued.

Brutal crime of this magnitude has never been here before

Another major migration problem is violent crime. “Recently, several young Afghans drugged a thirteen-year-old girl, raped her, killed her and dropped her in the park without comparing the article. Make no mistake and treat everyone the same. However, we have to admit that we have serious problems with many of those who have come to us from Afghanistan, Chechnya and other parts of the world, from completely different systems and cultures, “said S. Kurzas.

The Austrian leader fears that, along with the growing number of refugees from Afghanistan, violent crime will reach a new level: “Just look at the crime statistics. Never before has there been a brutal crime of this magnitude here. The language of numbers is unequivocal: violent crimes, such as sexual violence against women, are more common in certain groups ”.

If people are forced to flee, then according to Austrian politicians, they should choose “neighboring countries, Turkey or safe regions in Afghanistan itself, rather than going to Germany, Austria or Sweden.”

The Austrian leader is pleased that most Europeans have recently adopted a similar view of migration. “It can also be seen in Germany: starting with Chancellor Merkel, no one says more: please follow the path, you will find safety in Germany. The signs are the opposite, ”said S. Kurzas.

German Chancellor urges Afghans not to get in the way

The extremely strict position of the Austrian Chancellor on the issue of migration is not surprising; After all, he was the first Western European head of government to support the Visegrad countries in the refugee crisis and in 2016, he initiated the closure of the Balkan highway.

And the unequivocal statement by the German Chancellor at her latest press conference even prompted Bild to speak about “a turning point in Angela Merkel’s immigration policy.”

It is true that Germany does not leave the former Afghans of the Bundeswehr (translators, chefs, cleaners) in trouble. In the first half of this year, about 3,000 visas have already been issued.

“Our goal is for those who have worked for Germany since 2013, given the opportunity, if they wanted, to come to Germany to avoid threats,” Merkel said on July 22. at a press conference.

But when asked if the situation in Afghanistan would worsen, Germany could accept more Afghan refugees, the chancellor explained: “We have already received so many Afghan refugees.”

Germany cannot compensate for “all the difficulties Afghanistan is facing.” Furthermore, we see a difficult situation in other countries. “We will not solve all these problems by accepting people from there,” Merkel said.

The chancellor seemed to realize, sadly, too late

Such a statement sounds completely different from the encouraging words uttered by the Chancellor in September 2015: ‘Wir schaffen das’ – ‘We will succeed’.

“Finally, the chancellor has made it clear that migration can only take place in an orderly manner,” Count Alexander Lambsdorf, deputy head of the Bundestag’s Liberal Liberal Party (FDP) group, told Bild.

Merkel’s change of position “would suggest that the Chancellor has understood. Unfortunately, it is too late, ”said the FDP politician. His 2015 refugee policy damaged the political culture and made a significant contribution to strengthening the right-wing Alternative to Germany party.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also warned a few days ago of the threat of new flows of refugees from Afghanistan and appealed to the international community asking for “more help for the Afghan government and the people and their neighbors in this critical moment juncture. “

The Agency’s fact sheet indicates that there are now almost 2.9 million internally displaced persons in Afghanistan itself, compared to 1.4 million and 0.8 million in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, respectively.