What we could have done is not simply opened the floodgates and in so doing encouraged even more people to come from places like Pakistan and many others. It was never going to be easy but sending out the 'welcome' message only served to attract more people to take their chances with people traffickers etc.
We should have been pouring resources into refugee camps and sending out the clear message that we weren't simply going to open ourselves up to anyone who turned up claiming to be a refugee. Furthermore we should have been saying that anyone admitted as a refugee would be expected to return home at a future, safe, time as a condition of their entry. As it is, with no such rule, we've sent out the message to all and sundry that, for a period, possibly brief, there's a chance to get into the EU, choose where you go and stay there. We've also raised the hopes of a great many people, who won't want to return to their homelands because they lie in ruins. I know I wouldn't want to trade in a nice relatively safe life in the EU for extreme uncertainty (and quite possibly worse) back home, especially if I'd built a new life and my children had become used to it.
No, none of the above would solve the problem we've face but IMHO it would have reduced the scale of the problem rather than compounded it which is what I believe has happened. Imaging the feelings of those who believe they were invited and welcomed into the EU only to find that welcome was short and the streets weren't bedecked with welcome signs. I think we're creating the conditions for a great deal of serious resentment which won't be quickly forgotten.
---------- Post added at 16:07 ---------- Previous post was at 15:53 ----------
Quote:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed changes to make it easier to deport asylum-seekers who commit crimes, after the New Year's Eve sex attacks on women in Cologne.
The attacks, which victims say were carried out by men of North African and Arab appearance, have called into question her open-door migrant policy.
The police's handling of the events has also been sharply criticised.
Later, there were clashes at an anti-immigrant protest in Cologne.
Police used water cannon and pepper spray to disperse protesters from the the right-wing anti-immigrant Pegida movement as violence flared after a rally which heard condemnation of Mrs Merkel's policies.
Reports say bottles and firecrackers were hurled at police lines.
Saturday also saw protests by feminist groups over violence against women in the city, and a left-wing anti-Pegida counter-demonstration.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35271171