In a ploki, a nationalistic Finnish translation of blog, Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Foreign Minister Timo Soini writes that he’s against European Commission (EC) plans to spread refugees throughout the community.
“Every country is responsible for the asylum seekers [that come to their country],” he wrote. “Such policy must be made by the host country. The Commission should have no jurisdiction over [a country’s] immigration policy.”
Soini, who normally gives the image of a “good cop” against the “bad cops” of his party, or those PS members who have been sentenced for ethnic agitation and/or make racist statements to the media, believes that accepting a few refugees from war-torn regions wouldn’t help relieve matters for such refugees.
I wonder what Soini would have told Oskar Schindler when Nazi Germany was systematically murdering at death camps millions of Jews, Roma and other enemies of the régime.
Would he have told Schindler that his efforts were in vain since he only saved 1,200 Jews from extermination?
Soini’s response to the EC’s request, the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean and the war raging in the Middle East shouldn’t surprise us because that is the answer you’d get from an anti-immigration populist.
His response is shortsighted as well and leaves, like many of the policies of his party, this country’s future to chance.
What would happen if a civil war broke out in Russia and would force tens of thousands of Russians to flee and secure refuge in Finland?
Would the Commission’s response be the same as Soini’s today: Immigration and refugee policy must remain in the hands of the host country so deal with the issue yourself?
Every human and child we can save from the clutches of war and death is important.
Let there be no mistake about that.
* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English-language names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.
You don’t know what you are talking about.
This European commission plan to spread refugees is only for those refugees, that flee to Italy and Greece. So even if Soini would agree to it, it of course wouldn’t help Finland, if Russians would start to flee.
I’ll skip your remark about Schindler, it’s so obviously stupid.
Soini is against mandatory redistribution, so countries can decide, how much refugees to take.
This EC plan is what is shortsighted, it doesn’t solve the problem in the Mediterranean, it even might make the problem worse.
Every sovereign country has a duty to control its own borders and intake of refugees…. not some huge UN-like group or commission in a far-flung country (Brussels, .. NB: I lived in Brussels for 4 years). I don’t see why immigrant-recipient countries are somehow obliged to take immigrants even if they don’t want/need them…. Immigration should be like it was when I and my family were immigrants…. both of my parents went straight to work after we landed…. They went to work and I went to school …. the rest is history…. I simply don’t get why any country is required to take an influx of people who are so culturally and linguistically different that their settlement and employment becomes a serious problem. This is not a good outcome for the receiving country and I would argue that it’s not very good for the refugees either…. The great conglomerate of the EU should turn its attention to the source countries by offering aid with conditions that they improve their internal situation to such (most of them did, at some point, have a system which did not chase their citizens abroad, … violent changes in gov’t being the main cause) standard their people do not need to flee abroad….You want some aid…. take back your citizens cum refugees and treat them humanely….. Simplistic perhaps, but certainly doable…. with political will.
Just like with Steve, you suffer from the lack of empathy and basic understanding of international law.
Since your comment offers such “enlightened” views about the refugee crisis, why don’t you tell Brussels or your lawmaker about how to resolve the matter. I’m sure they’d be grateful.
EC’s plan is not only shortsighted but it also fails to address the problem completely. However, it is not intended to do that. It is once again the common trick of the EU. Take advantage of crises to increase to power of EU. EU is meant to be a union of sovereign and independent nations. That is what we joined. This move however would be once again a step into a direction of Federation.
What should we do then? Australia already has solved this one. They don’t reward the ones taking the boats. That is what its all about. As long as we keep giving reward of life in west, people will keep trying. If we also help them as on-demand taxi from Libyan coast, even more will come.
So what we should actually do? Have refuge camps near the country of origin, help refugees there, move asylum seekers to safety of those camps instead of taking them here.
Benefits would be:
-People would not take the dangerous routes as there is no rewards for it
-It would not reward those economic immigrants that fake to be refugees, and as such would weed them out from the real refugees
-Having refugees near their own country and own people would allow their skills to be more relevant (teachers could be teachers, doctors could be doctors without years of language and integration efforts)
-You could do much more with resources in refuge camp than in expensive European countries
-We would not need to use a lot of resources to assess if someone is really a refugee or faking to be one for life in west
-We would not need to use a lot of resources to integrate people with language, cultural and whatever studies
-Being close to the country of origin would allow refugees to easily return to rebuild their country. There would be also much higher motivation to do so (not so much if you live in rich European country)
-Just maybe it would give motivation for the idiots killing each other to wake up and stop their madness.
If you really want to take token refugees here (most are in refugee camps even now). Then you should take ones from the camps. Not young healthy men that buy their way in here from smugglers. Problem with that is of course that you start to hand out huge rewards. That might inspire non-refugees to come to refugee camps in hopes for that ticket to west.
For alternative solution, read Paavo Väyrynen’s suggestion here:
http://paavovayrynen.puheenvuoro.uusisuomi.fi/196855-avoin-kirje-timo-soinille
I admit, i’m not an expert on this matter, but at least to me, Paavo’s suggestion makes more sense.
I have a suggestion:
Send them to Enrique at Migrant Tales since he is the one with empathy and an understanding of international law. Problem solved.
In one decade under Enrique, Europe would be like the Middle East or Africa.
More boats= Happy Enrique at Migrant Tales
Some more boats= Even happier Enrique at Migrant Tales
Then some more boats= Happiest Enrique at Migrant Tales
But you know what will make him the happiest? Bring in the entire
war torn Middle east and Africa on boats and spread them far and wide all over Europe.
@ Yossie
You hit the nail on the head. Agree with most of the points you brought out, and I am an immigrant here by the way.
Bottom line: most of the refugees under the guise of refuge are
actually illegal immigrants. They are opportunistic with a few thousand euros to give to human traffickers.