The scramble to tighten border policies in some EU countries is a sign that politicians are desperately “trying to play catch up” with public concern, Dr. George Szamuely, a senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute, told Sputnik.
Europe’s migrant crisis was imposed by the elites on their own population, he stressed. It was part of a “fateful alliance among the big corporations that want cheap labor and the kind of multicultural advocates who think that that's a good thing for Europe to be more diverse,” Szamuely noted, stressing that this is “what's causing this intense political feeling because people don't really want it. This is something that the elites had desired.”
After Germany instituted sweeping checks at its borders and stronger deportation laws, the new Dutch government announced it was aiming to set in place “the strictest admission rules in the EU.” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Friday that the government would officially ask the European Commission for an opt-out on EU asylum and migration policies.
“We cannot continue to bear the large influx of migrants to our country. People are experiencing an asylum crisis,” Schoof said.
Screenshot of X post by Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs János Bóka.
© Photo : JanosBoka_HU
Geert Wilders, the right-wing leader of the PVV (PfE) – the party that came out on top in the last national elections in the Netherlands - described the Dutch official request to opt out of EU migration policy as a ‘mini-Nexit’ in a nod to Brexit.
New arrived migrants rest as they wait for their results of a medical check at the central registration for asylum seekers in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023.
© AP Photo / Markus Schreiber
“Tens of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers come into Europe and then make their way into the most prosperous parts of Europe, becoming an additional huge burden on countries,” underscored George Szamuely.
Europe is witnessing “complete abuse of the asylum seeker scheme,” said the researcher, adding:
“It is a combination of these anxieties, and the rise of anti-immigrant populist parties that is leading to the stricter measures or, at least, demands for stricter measures throughout Europe,” noted Szamuely.
Regarding the opt-out of EU rules, the expert noted that such an outcome is very difficult to achieve, as it requires renegotiating the treaty and “that's not something that's easily doable, and could take a long time […] because EU rules are supposed to be binding on all member states.”
The issue of immigration is besetting one country after another, and results of elections in European countries are starkly reflecting this. The issue of unrestrained immigration helped Wilders and his populist right Freedom Party win a plurality of seats in the Netherlands’ House of Representatives last November. In Germany, the success of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in regional elections piled pressure on the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to tackle the migrant issue and close its borders, temporarily ending the Schengen-Visiting Zone.