Immigration Watch International (2): Refugee tide places huge strains on Europe

Friday, December 23, 2022

Refugee tide places huge strains on Europe

Over 7.8 million people have fled Ukraine since conflict began

This year European countries have faced the largest refugee crisis since World War II, with the Russia-Ukraine conflict displacing millions of people.

As the conflict continues, more people from Ukraine are expected to leave the country this winter, putting Europe under severe stress and testing its ability to handle the human tide.

By this month more than 7.8 million refugees from Ukraine had settled in various parts of Europe since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out on Feb 24, of which more than 4.8 million were registered for temporary protection or similar national protection schemes, the UN Refugee Agency said.

Neighboring Poland remains the main country of arrival for refugees. Other European countries such as the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Romania have also taken in many.

After returning from a trip to Ukraine this month, Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said he expects another wave of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine over the winter, and he says he fears the humanitarian crisis in Europe will only get worse.

The European Union welcomed Ukrainian refugees soon after the conflict broke out. In early March it adopted an emergency plan allowing them to enter its 27 member countries without visas and granting them the right to live and work in the EU for up to three years. Many Europeans also opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees.

The EU has also adopted regulations to unlock funds that will ensure that member states hosting refugees have sufficient resources to meet the growing needs for housing, education and healthcare.

The EU has also taken measures to allow for greater flexibility in the use of EU cohesion policy funds, for instance by extending the possibility to transfer resources between programs and to obtain 100 percent EU financing, as well as by providing for additional pre-financing of projects to offer member states immediate relief.

Hosting Ukrainian refugees could cost EU countries 43 billion euros ($46 billion) this year, according to estimates by the think tank Bruegel in Brussels.

That cost accounts for about a quarter of the EU's overall budget for this year, which was set at 172 billion euros, and is likely to increase with more refugees entering the bloc.

Tian Dewen, deputy director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Ukrainian refugees in Europe are treated differently to refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.

"Accepting Ukrainian refugees in the first place is politically correct for European countries. Moreover, Ukrainian refugees are highly educated, young and white, and are more likely to integrate into local European society in the future, so they are generally welcomed in Europe."

For instance, about 73 percent of Ukrainian refugees who have settled in Germany since Feb 24 have a university degree, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported.

However, as the number of refugees in the continent has increased, European countries that have faced surging energy prices and living costs find it more challenging to help those in need.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202212/23/WS63a50aaaa31057c47eba5d71.html

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http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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Background

Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.

Why is "La Raza" the one Spanish term that is NEVER translated in the American mass media? Because translating it would make it a lot less respectable. It means "THE RACE" -- The mixed Hispanic "race" of Mexico. Racism is fine South of the Rio Grande only, apparently.

The "line" of this blog is that immigration should be SELECTIVE. That means that:

1). A national government should be in control of it. The U.S. and U.K. governments are not but the Australian government has shown that the government of a prosperous Western country can be. Up until its loss of office in 2007, the conservative Howard government had all but eliminated illegal immigration. The present Leftist government has however restarted the flow of illegals by repealing many of the Howard government regulations.

2). Selectivity should be based on "the content of a man's character, not on the color of his skin", as MLK said. To expand that a little: Immigrants should only be accepted if they as individuals seem likely to make a positive net contribution to the country. Many "refugees" would fail that test: Muslims and Africans particularly. Educational level should usually be a pretty fair proxy for the individual's likely value to the receiving country. There will, of course, be exceptions but it is nonetheless unlikely that a person who has not successfully completed High School will make a net positive contribution to a modern Western society.

3). Immigrants should be neither barred NOR ACCEPTED solely because they are of some particular ethnic origin. Blacks are vastly more likely to be criminal than are whites or Chinese, for instance, but some whites and some Chinese are criminal. It is the criminality that should matter, not the race.

4). The above ideas are not particularly blue-sky. They roughly describe the policies of the country where I live -- Australia. I am critical of Australian policy only insofar as the "refugee" category for admission is concerned. All governments have tended to admit as refugees many undesirables. It seems to me that more should be required of them before refugees are admitted -- for instance a higher level of education or a business background.

5). Perhaps the most amusing assertion in the immigration debate is that high-income countries like the USA and Britain NEED illegal immigrants to do low-paid menial work. "Who will pick our crops?" (etc.) is the cry. How odd it is then that Australians get all the normal services of a modern economy WITHOUT illegal immigrants! Yes: Before the pandemic, you usually COULD buy a lettuce in Australia for a dollar or thereabouts. And Australia IS a major exporter of primary products.

6). I am a libertarian conservative so I reject the "open door" policy favoured by many libertarians and many Leftists. Both those groups tend to have a love of simplistic generalizations that fail to deal with the complexity of the real world. It seems to me that if a person has the right to say whom he/she will have living with him/her in his/her own house, so a nation has the right to admit to living among them only those individuals whom they choose.

I can be reached on jonjayray@hotmail.com -- or leave a comment on any post. Abusive comments will be deleted.

Immigration Watch International (2)

Friday, December 23, 2022

Refugee tide places huge strains on Europe

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