Europe heading towards violence: The migrant crisis in Europe has been badly handled, if steps aren’t taken to secure the borders of EU immediately then the consequences of breakdown of civil society could result in a huge change in the political climate which will see the rise of hard line parties of the left and right not been seen in Europe this side of World War 2

Dear All

A lot of people have been discussing the economic migrant crisis, politicians in the UK have been involved in a bidding war about who is ‘caring enough’, this isn’t the way to deal with this problem.

And this problem is one of the most serious issues to hit the European Union as far back as I can remember. The scale of this problem facing Europe is simply incredible; this isn’t a few people here and there seeking a new life.

I have been writing about the need for EU reform on the blog for several years, I am a big fan of the European Union when the then Conservative Government led by Ted Heath took us into what was then called the ‘Common Market’. The EU has evolved over decades into what most of us recognise today, it isn’t perfect but it isn’t a total disaster.

If matters aren’t taken in hand, I can see an unrecoverable shift in UK public opinion to leave the EU, polling suggests this is possible because of the current situation regarding migrants.

It is now time for the European Union to evolve again; the current migrant crisis has added additional weight to that notion.

Some ideas I have floated over the years appeared to have been developed by like minded people in the EU.

1/ EU Border Force

2/ EU internal immigration policy for EU citizens

3/ intervention and mobilisation of the military in member states

4/ New EU wide ID card scheme

Now, I am going to add another idea

5/ No non EU economic migrant processed from this crisis and allowed to remain within an EU country which has accept them can travel to any other EU member state. Everyone should be completely documented, if a breach occurred; the person or group will be returned to the EU country they were settled and registered in.

And they would be put in prison for a maximum term of one year.

Two people in Europe in the powerful political positions have acted irresponsibly, Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Germany’s apparent open borders policy is doomed to failure and social unrest in the near future. Jean-Claude Juncker has pushed the idea of economic migrants being given approval to work immediately. These decisions far from sorting out the problems are only stock piling future trouble. 

Hungarian authorities are experiencing great difficulties which has led to emergency measures having to be taken, 167,000 migrants have entered Hungary illegally so far this year. In an important development last Friday, the Hungarian Parliament passed a raft of anti-migrant laws, the parliament voted to criminalise illegal border crossing. This isn’t unexpected and it although it may sound cruel to those who have already tried to exploit the situation for personal political gain, it is the right thing to do.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also announced fresh efforts to complete a fence to keep the refugees out. This is a stop gap measure, what is needed is the concept of ‘Fortress Europe’ with secure borders, some people scream humanitarian need and although that is important, they think nothing of the consequences which will come from being unable to verify who is coming through the border.

Not all people are nice and cuddly.

People’s lives are and will be placed in danger if we cannot address this problem; I recently watch a video online of a migrant mob in Kos attacking what appeared to be a Greek woman. They were trying to smash her face in by raining blows into her as she was pinned against a car.

Anyone wish to put those attackers up in their home?

Hungarian isn’t just the only place which is under threat; the problems in France are well documented at the Channel ports. Violence and intimidation at Channel ports is well known, this is a matter of national security, economic security and yes, social cohesion in member states. The problems are spreading northward, Denmark has closed a motorway and rail links with Germany due to the tide of illegal immigration. There is a flow of people attempting to pas through the Danish country on their way to Sweden, they aren’t stopping in Denmark which has a centre right government who have cut benefits. Clearly these people aren’t asylum seekers, they are economic migrants.

They aren’t seeking safety; they are seeking a higher standard of living.

Danish Police also asked the state-owned railway operator to stop all trains between Germany and Denmark until further notice. Denmark is part of the EU's Schengen zone, where borders are meant to be open to allow free movement, if matters are not addressed soon then the Schengen agreement will have to be suspended.

So, far there has been a rather casual approach taken which refuses to recognise the scale of the problem facing the European Union.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said something which if you read the blog on a regular basis you might agree with, he said:

“We represent the position of what the Americans call "first things first. As long as we are unable to defend Europe's external borders, it makes no sense to talk about the fate of the immigrants.”

It is the job of politicians to defend the national security of their nation state, clearly several people have disregarded this for personal gain and political advantage, and this must stop immediately.

At what stage in this crisis will politicians act?

Angela Merkel of Germany must end the open borders attitude that she has taken or she will see the rise of full scale civil disobedience as the situation gets totally out of control and law and order breaks down.

When people become fearful, they arm themselves, when they do that, there is a tendency for people to get shot. If you had seen the video of the Greek woman being savagely beaten by migrants you would be have serious concerns at the direction of some European leaders are taking.

I spoke to someone to ask them what their view of this crisis would mean in the long term for Europe, his thoughts came out as civil war as experienced in the Balkans.

You will see it start as reports of no go areas in cities, followed by violence and violent protests, the rise of new extremist centre left or right parties with a hard line anti immigration stance, the collapse of traditional parties, then the emergence of strong ultra nationalist leaders who will pave the way for draconian measures, the like of which has not been seen in Europe this side of World War 2.

We aren’t there yet, but we certainly are on the road to major conflict and the break up within individual EU member states. Prior to the migrant crisis, check out the Spanish situation, again this is well documented over decades.

So, I would strongly suggest Angela Merkel ditches the open borders policy and start to seal the German borders as should other EU countries affected. We need to mobilise the military to do this and if need be co-ordinate this through NATO.

Europe must be locked down.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University