Migrant Story

Big meeting held this week, and concluded yesterday....in Helsinki, Finland.  The discussion topic for this EU group?  Rescued refugees from the Med.

So they talked, and talked, and talked, and talked.

The basic proposal at the beginning of this conference....they really needed all 28 members of the EU to agree to take rescued Med folks out of Italy and Malt.  The conclusion?  No agreement.

The German press tried to put a positive spin on this story, and generally blame Italy and Malta.  But the truth is....more than a handful of the membership (28) had questions which could not be answered.

Germany and France were willing to sign anything, with any number, and any scenario (if you go and read a dozen-odd journalists trying to describe the Helsinki meeting).

The chief issues? 

First, even if you got everyone (the 28) to agree to a one-time distribution of the folks in Greek, Italian and Maltese facilities....what happens tomorrow when fresh rescues are accomplished?  So this would be an open contract, and you could be potentially signing up for 10,000 refugees a year from the rescue crowd operation. 

Second, you have no idea who exactly you are getting.  Maybe it's some kid from Ghana, who has no criminal record, is mentally sane, and potentially productive.  Maybe it's a nutcase from Afghanistan, with a past record of murder.  Maybe it's a career criminal released from a prison in Kenya, with a drug-habit.  You simply don't know who you'd be accepting.

Third, the whole basis of immigration is that you get a review of the person, and you eventually pronounce judgement of accepting them or not.  This EU group wants the review process thrown out and never mentioned. 

Fourth and final....you come to the element of a 'rescue', and ask yourself....if the guy paid $1,000 to $2,000 for a seat on a rubber-raft with a bottle of water....to be towed out near Lampedusa....is that a real rescue or just a fake-rescue?  If a guy is paying for the seat and a tow.....doesn't it make a joke out of all the rescue business? 

So the meeting ended, and the folks checked out of their five-star hotel rooms, and flew back home.  In six months....there's probably another meeting scheduled, and more chatting over migrants, with the same expectations....a nice hotel, fine dining, and evening chats with the French. 



The proposal sounded simple: all EU countries should take refugees, so that the rescue is not blocked. But the plan did not work out: some wanted more, others did not want. In fact, Germany and France had hoped to find a solution in the negotiations with other EU interior ministers on how to distribute Mediterranean-rescued migrants to EU member states. A "coalition of the willing to receive" should be forged - but this is nothing for the time being. The meeting in Helsinki ended without agreement.