2015. The year of the European Migrant Crisis.
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis,[2][3] was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to request asylum,[4] the most in a single year since World War II.[5] Those requesting asylum in Europe in 2015 were mostly Syrians,[6] but also included significant numbers of Afghans, Nigerians, Pakistanis, Iraqis and Eritreans,[7] as well as economic migrants from the Balkans.[8]
Of course, even before 2015 there was an influx of migrants coming to Europe, in search of a better life and social assistance benefits. Sweden has a long history of this situation, nothing new there. But that was the year when Angela Merkel, at that point in time an important figure in the European politics and being Chancellor of Germany, said the famous words: "We can do this" (or "Welcome migrants" if you prefer). Some years after, her political career ended up in smoke, but the damage was already done and today Germany (and the whole western Europe) feels the burden of such decisions.
A lot of virtue signaling and support was shown in favor of open borders, everyone's welcome policies and other such non-sense. But this was fine if the migrants were someplace else; when they out of the sudden are in your backyard, the whole rhetoric changes.
During the peak of immigration, in 2015, only in Germany there was an influx of 1 million people. Mostly coming from countries like Syria, Afghanistan, Irak, Albania but also Somalia and Nigeria. No, not the usual Nigerian princes who want to put in your bank account million of dollars. And probably not the regular Somalian pirates. Or maybe exactly these guys. Since the borders were wide open and no security check could be performed. Europe imported on a large scale poor and uneducated people, but also criminals and scammers. And once they start to grow in numbers, also the associated problems start to rise.
Now Germany struggle to finds housing for more than 1 million refugees.
The German government pledged on Tuesday to provide more support to cities and towns struggling to house the more than 1.1 million refugees and migrants who have arrived in the country this year, mostly from war-torn Ukraine but also other countries such as Syria and Afghanistan.
And now even Germany cannot take it anymore. Border controls are reintroduced, and at some point they will be probably properly enforced:
In an effort to keep other migrants from crossing into the country, the interior minister said Germany would extend and increase its border controls to Austria for another six months and also intensify controls to the Czech Republic.
The move comes after Austria and the Czech Republic introduced temporary border controls to Slovakia last month to keep migrants from entering their countries.
In Italy, Matteo Salvini tried this for a short period of time, blocking several ships full of illegal immigrants to reach Italian land:
In his stint as interior minister he introduced draconian anti-immigration measures that included closing refugee centers, scrapping humanitarian protection permits and blocking migrant arrivals. He is unfazed at being on trial in Palermo on kidnapping charges for preventing the arrival of 147 migrants onboard the NGO ship Open Arms in August 2019. “I have no regrets. I did it [blocked the ships] 50 times and I would do it again. My main satisfaction from that period is that Europe remembered that Italy existed,” he said.
There were also countries which directly expressed their voice and opposed illegal immigration from the beginning: Poland and Hungary. In the eyes of Angela Merkel:
“That contradicts the spirit of Europe. We’ll overcome that. It will take time and patience but we will succeed.”
It might be that they don't speak about the same spirit of Europe. If defending your values and your citizens contradicts the spirit of Europe, then maybe Europe lost its spirit. This woke, full of hypocrisy so called spirit, and imposed by Western politicians as the new way of life, ignores completely the reality of the ground.
The Netherlands has also its own problems with the refugees. Ter Apel is coming into discussion every couple of months:
Vluchtelingenwerk brought the case after up to 700 people a night were left to sleep on the grass outside the facility over the summer because of chronic overcrowding.
Earlier this week government inspectors condemned conditions at Ter Apel, where they found families huddled together in a ‘cold, draughty and dirty sports hall’. They also criticised the lack of showers, filthy toilets and lack of medical provision.
Now the government try to disperse the refugees all over the country, but a lot of municipalities don't even want to hear about such thing. Because they know once they accept this, an endless source of problems will be always there.
Meanwhile, Angela Merkel is awarded for such noble actions.
Germany's former chancellor Angela Merkel has been hailed for her "great moral and political courage" in supporting asylum seekers.
The 68-year-old received the praise as she was awarded the Nansen Prize from the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday.
She will also get some cash along with the prize, in order to sweeten the deal.
Merkel will receive her award -- which comes with a €151,000 prize -- during a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland on 10 October.
Switzerland is one of the countries that are fiercely resisting illegal immigration. Kinda hypocritical, isn't it?
Switzerland registered 18,088 asylum seekers in 2017.
Most asylum seekers originated from Eritrea, Syria and Afghanistan. The recognition rate (including temporary admission) during 2017 was 76.7% overall, with higher rates for nationals from Syria (96.4%) and Afghanistan (91.5%).
The rates of rejection in 2017 were highest among asylum seekers from Georgia (84.1%), Guinea (76.2%), and Nigeria (73.5%).
It's obvious that (Western) Europe still doesn't want to recognize that there is a problem and this problem is just growing over time. It's more a question of time, until enough will be enough. Maybe this year Germany has a housing problem with 1 million refugees. But what about in 5 years from now? Or 10? Eventually the reality will catch up with the woke and stupid policies, but it might be also too late. Time will, as always, tell.
