terça-feira, 22 de setembro de 2015

Few diplomats believe that relocation policy will actually work / Berlin arm-twisting adds to unease over EU’s refugee crisis


Few diplomats believe that relocation policy will actually work

Berlin arm-twisting adds to unease over EU’s refugee crisis

What does it say about Europe’s refugee policy that many of those setting it find themselves agreeing more with Viktor Orban than Angela Merkel? It is certainly not the razor wire or tear gas the Hungarian prime minister has deployed at his country’s borders that has won over converts, nor his incendiary speeches about the coming Islamification of the continent.

As frequently happens with the combative Mr Orban, his tactics and rhetoric have made it nearly impossible for serious policymakers publicly to ally themselves with Budapest.
But privately, many admit that the man has a point. On Tuesday, unless an eleventh-hour compromise is found, EU interior ministers, at the German chancellor’s insistence, will force all countries to accept a portion of 160,000 Syrian, Eritrean and potentially Iraqi asylum-seekers that have arrived in overburdened Greece and Italy in a decision taken by a majority vote — an act of diplomatic bloodletting rarely seen in Brussels’ corridors of power.
The lack of diplomatic nicety is only part of what has unsettled even those sympathetic to the Berlin-backed policy. Outvoting Czechs, Slovaks and Hungarians — and strong-arming Poles, Latvians and Romanians — on an issue so central to a country’s sovereignty, and so politically radioactive, has left diplomats from other EU members wringing their hands at what they are about to do. Their country, after all, could be next.
The arm-twisting from Berlin has added to the sense of unease. German leaders have publicly and privately warned their former Communist neighbours that the EU development money promised to the bloc’s poorer east could be withdrawn if they do not agree to refugee sharing — a linkage so blatant that more than one diplomat used the word “blackmail” to describe it.
Even this German geopolitical power play might have been overlooked but for one thing: very few diplomats in Brussels think the policy will work. This is where Mr Orban strikes a chord.
As refugees drown at sea or wilt under a Balkan sun as they dash from border to border, EU capitals are debating a relocation scheme that will take months to implement. EU interior ministers agreed in July to move 40,000 refugees from overwhelmed Greece and Italy. None have yet been moved. Logistical arrangements will come up for discussion next month.
Most experts believe that if tens of thousands of refugees are moved to EU countries where they do not want to be, they will simply hop on a train to Germany.
While all this political capital is being spent on a plan most think will not have any real impact, scant attention is being paid to addressing the problem at the source. The UN has for months been warning anyone who will listen that its refugee food programme in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey has run out of money. Officials who work in the region describe scenes of squalor and despair, providing the “push” for migrants that is at least as powerful as the “pull” of Europe’s promise.

So why is the EU about to undergo a week of damaging discord for a policy that has little chance of success? The answer, many diplomats believe, is domestic German politics.
Initial admiration for German generosity has given way to impatience. Many officials involved in the talks suspect that Ms Merkel first signalled Germany’s open arms to refugees as a way to counter the reproval she suffered on the global stage after Berlin strong-armed Greece into an unpalatable bailout deal in July.
That signal backfired badly, those officials say, encouraging thousands of refugees to hop into rickety boats, cross the Hungarian border and find their way to Germany. The influx prompted Berlin to reimpose border controls on its frontier with Austria and to push for Tuesday’s vote on the relocation scheme.
Forcing other countries to agree to take in thousands of refugees is a symbolic gesture intended to reassure the German public that the EU is ready to share the burden, even if it has little practical effect.
Like so much that happens in Brussels, other European leaders are being forced to make political sacrifices to ensure domestic political tranquillity in Germany. No wonder even Mr Orban has found some sympathisers.


peter.spiegel@ft.com

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