Coping With the Impossible

"The refugee crisis can be brought under control, but make no mistake it will take a tremendous amount of effort, it will take a long time, and it will take many steps in many areas."
"[All member states must] respect the outcome [of the relocation plan]."
EU Commission first vice-president Frans Timmermans

"If people are distributed in Europe, then they can't choose what country they go to. They have to stay in the country they were distributed to."
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere

Of course, those are the rules hastily gathered together and somewhat agreed upon by senior European leaders in their efforts to somehow come to grips with and attempt to resolve the inundation of refugees and economic migrants flooding Europe from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. Almost a half-million people have so far streamed into Europe, according to estimates provided by the UN refugee agency.

In response, some EU member countries have brought back border controls in a vain effort to control the unsustainable migration of people requiring shelter, medical attention, food and registration to enable them to venture further to accomplish their goals of achieving entry not only to Europe, but very particular countries in Europe, those assumed to be welcoming, wealthy and prepared to offer them a future.

The EU rule that the first country to document entry is where the migrants must remain has little meaning for the hordes of migrants whose intention it is to bypass registration in the countries they must pass through to finally enter their goal destination: Austria, Germany or Sweden. The migrants deliberately attempt to bypass registration and documentation to further their goal to reach Germany, Mr. de Maiziere's statement notwithstanding.

The refugees and the economic migrants may be desperate to escape the privation, misery and violence that has afflicted them in their countries of origin, but they are also opportunistic; if threats, violence, poverty and homelessness have torn them from their native lands, causing them to abandon all hope there, then they will not deign to accept just any haven in the storm of their lives, but one of proven quality and opportunity.

That their fear and homelessness is caused by what many hold most dear; their trust in Islam, only propels them onward; they will invest their new countries offering haven with Islamic principles, for those who have preceded them have shown the way. It is, in fact, the minority ethnic and religious groups, Christians, Yazidis and Kurds fleeing Syria and Iraq who should be given preferential treatment, as representing those most likely to assimilate into the prevailing indigenous culture.

The complicating factors that only one in three of the refugee hordes are actually fleeing conflict, the others portraying themselves as Syrians when they are Palestinians, Afghans, Libyans, Algerians, Eritreans, Tunisians is something else again; as economic migrants fleeing poverty and oppression their plight is not recognized as being as dire as the Syrian refugees and knowing this, they pose as such.

And nor are there any assurances that all those fleeing the Islamist sectarian tides of hatred and war are who they claim to be. Berlin police have raided eight buildings after having investigated a group of suspected extremists held to be inciting people to fight for ISIL in Syria; recruiting from their new perch in Germany, from among the new arrivals.

The stress that Europe is now staggering under in the weight of humanity streaming into the Continent has created situations where one country is beginning to threaten the security and well-being of others. Aside from Greece and Italy suffering the deleterious impact of striving to accommodate human needs they are ill prepared to provide for, there are the leaders of four former Soviet bloc countries struggling to maintain their sovereignty, though members of the EU.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico stated his country would prefer to breach the new relocation measures for asylum-seekers "than accept such a dictate".  His Czech counterpart, Bohuslav Sobotka stated: "It's a bad decision and the Czech Republic did all it could to block it". Serbia issued an ultimatum to Croatia to reopen its border crossings closed last week in an effort to block the influx of migrants, 34,900 in a mere few days. An action that has crumpled Serbia's economy as a cargo conduit to Europe.

"This is a scandal of international proportions", said Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. "Croatia has breached all European agreements and directives". Romania and Hungary joined the Czechs and Slovaks to vote against the relocation plan. "We cannot let migrants without even basic identity documents roam at large. 

"Our border fence serves the sole purpose of preventing uncontrolled crossing of the green border and making people seek access to Hungary's territory at designated border crossings, where they can submit their asylum applications", explained Balint Odor, Hungarian ambassador to Canada.