Unstoppable migration?

[Ignitionnet]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/w...cle4587109.ece (Paywall)

Syrian asylum seekers in Greece have refused to be relocated to Luxembourg, pushing the European Union’s scheme for migrant quotas close to collapse.

The Times understands that plans to relocate 30 Syrians from Greece to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, one of Europe’s wealthiest countries, have been shelved because “very many” of them want to go to Germany instead.

---

Last week the European Commission organised television cameras for a media event when the first group of 19 Eritreans was relocated from Italy to Sweden. Officials have since revealed that the exercise was nearly a disaster.

The original plan was for 33 Eritreans to board an Italian military aircraft to Stockholm last Thursday. However, 14 Eritrean refugees “absconded” the day before and “the remaining people had to be placed under lock and key to stop them disappearing too”, a source said.

[Osem]

Tensions are building among thousands of migrants heading north through Balkan states as their route to Western Europe is stalled by new controls.

Croatia had asked its northern neighbour Slovenia to accept 5,000 migrants daily, but Slovenia said it would only take half that number.

The move has led to a build-up of people on Croatia's border with Serbia.

An official told the BBC that Croatia could run out of room in its transit camps within days.

Buses crammed with people were backed up in Serbia on Sunday, and tempers flared between frustrated migrants and overstretched police officers.

Overnight, many were forced to wait in the cold and the rain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34568499

Somebody's going to have to sort something out or we're going to see huge problems as winter sets in.

[Osem]

Eurotunnel services were suspended in both directions after an "intrusion" by hundreds of migrants at the terminal in Calais.

Channel Tunnel operators halted services between Folkestone and Coquelles in northern France after the terminal and platforms were stormed.

Some migrants used diversionary tactics to occupy police while others tried to cross the channel, Eurotunnel said.

Services have resumed, but passengers are warned to expect delays.

A spokesman for Eurotunnel said: "[The migrants] are coming in waves to occupy the police. Then another wave comes, then another, until there is no more police. One group is then able to get through.

"Then we have to take over and sweep through the terminal and clear them all from the tracks and the platform."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34569227

I see the beefed up security is working so well...

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Osem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34569227

I see the beefed up security is working so well...

They should have armed soldiers with guns the other side of the fence and France should be censured for giving free Calais rail tickets to migrants.

If Europe continues to welcome people with open arms, millions of them are going to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean and the long walk in winter conditions.

This madness will never end until the EU gets real and finally accepts the misguided nature of its policies.

And if France thinks that the Calais mafia are coming here, they have another think coming. The French authorities need to move them on and clear up the site to stop all this lawlessness. They can't come here and that's that.

[Osem]

Well it is staggering quite just how inept the EU seems to be. Calais aside, this has been going on long enough for them to have come up with some form of credible action but things have been allowed to simmer away nicely with ever increasing numbers tempted to take their chances. It didn't take the brain of Einstein to realise that's what would happen and it doesn't take a genius to work out that unless the authorities get a grip on this situation things will turn very nasty indeed. IMHO it's already be too late to prevent major problems but the more people who're encouraged to come here by the lack of any credible deterrent, the bigger and more protracted the crisis will be. Never mind though because the EU's great at having emergency meetings...

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

And if France thinks that the Calais mafia are coming here, they have another think coming. The French authorities need to move them on and clear up the site to stop all this lawlessness. They can't come here and that's that.

The border of Britain is not in Calais. If the French wanted too they could remove that perk and we would have to deal with these camps in Dover. I doubt we would tolerate it if it were the other way around so being too aggressive towards France might not be in our best interests.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Damien

The border of Britain is not in Calais. If the French wanted too they could remove that perk and we would have to deal with these camps in Dover. I doubt we would tolerate it if it were the other way around so being too aggressive towards France might not be in our best interests.

IIRC it is by treaty and can only be changed with the agreement of both sides. Of course the French being a law unto themselves when it suits, I wouldn't bank on them honouring that however...

Originally Posted by Osem

IIRC it is by treaty and can only be changed with the agreement of both sides. Of course the French being a law unto themselves when it suits, I wouldn't bank on them honouring that however...

The treaty has a break clause that would allow France to bow out with a 2 year notice period.

http://www.thelocal.fr/20150806/will...ve-border-home

There is a reason why the UK Government has been very careful not to implicate France or otherwise criticise them for the problems in Calais. This is treaty that benefits us more than it benefits them and the only reason France continues to abide by it is so that they don't sour diplomatic relations.

[Osem]

Of course there is, regardless of any treaty, there's nothing for us to gain by antagonising them. The French are prepared to flout the rules when it suits them to do so and they've acted unilaterally in the past.

That being said, they'd much rather not have a constant flow of migrants through their country so it's in both our interests to prove to these people that there's no point coming to France and expecting to get to the UK. I believe that'd be the quickest way to cut the numbers.

[Osem]

In politics you can sometimes gauge the level of panic and fear by the speed with which previously held principles are set aside.
So with the migrant crisis.
Some open borders have been suspended, governments are contemplating talking to President Assad, long denounced as a brutal dictator, and a deal is being hastily concluded with Turkey, widely held to be an increasingly authoritarian country.
And then what is being debated in Germany - containment camps on its borders and a police union chief urging Germany to build a fence along its border with Austria - are all indicators of the political tension gripping Berlin.
Angela Merkel has called her decision to open Germany's borders to refugees a "historic challenge" - but she is no longer in charge of events.
Her increasingly restive party is muttering she is "without a plan".
So the overture to Turkey - it is born out of the failure of other policies.
Germany had put great store by burden-sharing, by getting other countries to accept quotas.
It was muscled through a meeting of EU interior ministers against the wishes of several countries.
But only a handful of refugees have been relocated. Many others are refusing to leave Germany.
It is the case that many of those seeking asylum in Germany are from Kosovo and Albania.
Both countries are considered safe and the government in Berlin wants people returned there as quickly as possible.
It did not take long for the migrants to get medical certificates which prevent them being deported.
So Turkey came to be seen as the key to managing the crisis.
The EU wants Turkey to slow the numbers crossing the Aegean.
It also wants Turkey to take back any migrants who are refused asylum and entry into the EU.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34569634

Methinks Merkel has acquired Thatcher Syndrome - she started to believe she could do no wrong. I reckon a lot of knives are being sharpened...

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Damien

The border of Britain is not in Calais. If the French wanted too they could remove that perk and we would have to deal with these camps in Dover. I doubt we would tolerate it if it were the other way around so being too aggressive towards France might not be in our best interests.

....And how exactly would they be getting to Dover? Even the Germans baulked at crossing the Channel in the Second World War!

[Julian]

A New Route To Riches

[techguyone]

That'll be interesting if word spreads, and it's classed as UK turf & they apply for asylum, badum UK here we go & it's only across a little bit of sea.

[Osem]

Word will spread very quickly and you can bet the numbers will soon rise dramatically. The same happens every time a new route across borders is discovered. As harsh as it seems the only way to stop this happening is to take these people straight back to where they came from but that's not a decision many people would feel comfortable with and would become progressively difficult.

My worry is that as the numbers increase, as they inevitably will, it will get to the point where the only way to stop places being overwhelmed will be the use of force. That's a scenario nobody wants to contemplate but it's the awful reality IMHO. Irrespective of what sympathy we have for them, we cannot allow the EU to be effectively 'stormed' by countless people from around the globe who are simply desperate to come here.

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

....And how exactly would they be getting to Dover? Even the Germans baulked at crossing the Channel in the Second World War!

Trains, Boats? If the passport control is in Dover that poses a problem. There might be additional security checks like we have for Ireland which could help but otherwise the ability to check who should and shouldn't be coming over would be done in England not France.

Also WW2 isn't a useful reference point.