[COMMENT]: how Europe can turn its migrant crisis into an opportunity

This article was written for euronews by Alexis Kouros, Editor-in-Chief of the Helsinki Times. Euronews does not endorse the views held by third-party contributors but believes in their importance in feeding the debate. We welcome and value your comments on this issue so feel free to join the conversation via Facebook at the bottom of this article. Reactions to the refugee influx across Europe have been intensely emotional overall; some have been throwing firebombs at reception centres and others have been welcoming refugees with flowers. Both are emotional and localised responses to a global problem, which urgently needs a rational and holistic solution. In order to gain the upper hand and take control of this crisis and even turn it into an opportunity to help the refugees – not only those who have the means to reach Europe, but all the refugees wherever they are – Europe must accept a few bitter facts and have the courage to make radical changes in its policy. Here is what should be admitted and what could be done: Resettlement is not the answer, but part of the problem There are more than 60 million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world at the moment. While some conflicts or crises are ending, new ones are emerging. War-ravaged Yemen alone saw 933,500 new IDPs in the first half of last year, while 559,000 were forced to flee within Ukraine. Burundi and Bangladesh are also among the ticking bombs. There will soon be millions of people in need of resettlement because of natural, health- and climate-related disasters. Resettlement contributes to the problem because of the immensely unequal distribution of help, prioritising those who have reached Europe at the expense of those left behind. Just a simple look at the numbers should be enough to comprehend that we cannot resettle and accommodate within Europe or other western countries all those in trouble, so we have to help them where they are and ensure that the resources are divided equally – starting from the most vulnerable. Don’t pay Turkey ransom money, let hosting refugees boost the Greek economy Turkey has had several grudges with Europe, starting with not being let into the club. Last but not least, when [Turkish president] Erdogan was not able to get support for his idea of a so-called buffer zone inside Syria to host the refugees and Turkish troops, he decided to teach the EU a lesson. This extortion plan has unfortunately been successful; forcing the EU to promise 3 billion euros and other concessions to Turkey just to close the floodgates, i.e. get things back to “normal”. Erdogan reuses a mock-up of Fidel Castro’s lesson to Jimmy Carter’s USA. Few people remember the so-called Mariel Boatlift of 1980, when, more than 120,000 Cuban refugees flooded Miami. They left with Castro’s blessing form the Mariel Harbour, using rubber boats, tractor tubes and anything that could float – until Carter had to apologise and to pay ransom money for the human flood to stop. Long story short, Erdogan is blackmailing Europe. Paying him is a grave mistake. The last thing that a sovereign country should do is to ask a distrusted neighbour to protect her borders for her, and that is what the EU is doing. Additionally Turkey has contributed significantly to the instability of neighbouring Syria by giving a free pass to foreign fighters and weapons into – and ISIS oil out of – Syria. The 3-plus billion euros could be a boost to the Greek economy and create jobs if, instead, humane and liveable refugee camps were built in the Greek islands. The knowledge that the island in sight would be the end of the trip would greatly discourage those who are not truly in need of protection. The lifetime lottery prize into a temporary stay Getting to Europe has never been easier and cheaper. The buffer of totalitarian socialist countries around Western Europe has dissolved and the EU borders has moved to Turkey and Albania. Wherever poverty meets wealth, walls have to be built. But it’s now just a narrow stretch of sea separating the shores of a Turkey full of refugees, corruption and anger with the EU from the islands of Greece, which is almost bankrupt and also angry with the EU. Add to the mix the human smugglers and it’s more than a bridge. It’s a treadmill! Getting across could cost less then a 1,000 euros per person, so think of it as a lottery ticket that costs 1,000 euros. The prize is a lifetime in a welfare state with free education, housing, healthcare, possible employment and whatnot. And guess what? If accepted, you can then bring your family – in best case all expenses paid. And the best part is that every other ticket wins! The pull factor is just too strong to resist.We need to change the lifetime nature of granted asylum for humanitarian protection and issue the residence permits one year at a time; renewable when necessary. This, by itself, would decrease the prize value and demotivate those who are not truly in need of urgent refuge to take the risk of migrating – but would still be attractive to those in desperate need of protection.Most foreign students, diplomats and expats live in similar transit states and cover the costs themselves. Even in the broader term, migration has changed and people don’t even want to commit to the same country forever anyway. Turn the integration industry into an empowerment university For those who do get to stay, integration should be redundant to a large extent, except the minimum required to live a temporary life in Europe. Asylum seekers must be treated as human resources of their home countries, who are in effect on loan. No language courses and no other preparation for the working life; instead, adult refugees should be educated and trained in skills and professions that are needed in their home country to rebuild their cities and their society. They should be taught western values and democracy and equality, etc. All of those things that we have tried to inject into their countries through bombs and missiles. This period of their life must be looked at as “college years” – a chance for a truly useful education. We should reshape the “integration industry” into an “empowerment and nation building university”. The good thing about this model is that there are all kinds of professionals among the incomers, who could act as mentors and teach others in their own language. No translator needed. This would be far less expensive than integration. There is no doubt that the crisis in Syria and other places will end one day and the country will need builders, plumbers, electricians, teachers and engineers, coders and carpenters, etc. Kids could be put into schools using their own language and be taught by professional or substitute teachers from among the refugees, according to their own school curriculum, so that when they return they could continue right from were they left. As an example, with the integration model, Germany would need up to 20,000 new teachers by next summer to accommodate the 196,000 new students arriving in German schools. With this model the need would be much less or even non-existent. When the time is right for people to go home, they could be given a seed capital in the form of machines and equipment – and a loan if necessary to start businesses or cooperatives. Help them liberate their land It’s just a matter of time before the EU and other western countries have to engage ISIS on the ground. And who would be better to do that than the sons of Iraq and Syria? Critics may say that you can not force refugees to fight, but it would be ridiculous if we have to send European soldiers to fight ISIS, and more than a hundred thousand healthy young Iraqi men would be amassed in the reception centres or would be cleaning our metros at the same time! With proper training and empowerment, they could be forged into a formidable fighting force. For comparison, ISIS is said to have only 30,000 fighters in Iraq! Create a channel for legal migration The asylum system is probably the most misused, benevolent scheme of the last decades. A system that was meant to help those who are truly persecuted for their thinking, religion, ethnic background, etc. has been used as means of economic migration to a large scale. Many have sought refuge based on humanitarian grounds when in fact they are economic refugees. One main reason has been that there has been no legal bridge over the big divide. Immigrants are not to blame. It is human nature to pursue a better life and migrate in search of it. But using the asylum system to reach that goal gives these people an unfair advantage over those who would try the official and honest ways of acquiring a working or studying visa and paying all their charges until they can earn a living. A point system similar to that used by Canada and Australia for years, should be created to facilitate the flow of work-related migration. These would be people that Europe needs and who would adapt to European society. These are people who would integrate quickly and find their places from day one. These will be the elements of a healthy and balanced, truly multicultural society. Asylum seekers should be encouraged to participate in the same program and shift from humanitarian protection to labour immigrant status. Of course, this model may not work for political refugees and activists needing a more permanent protection from totalitarian regimes and other similar cases. There is no doubt that these changes would also not be pleasant to all applicants, especially those who have taken the journey in hope of a life-long migration, but will empower those who want to be helped to help themselves. Article written by Alexis KourosEditor-in-Chief of the Helsinki Times (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));Rather than resettling refugees for life within Europe, what if European countries took them in temporarily and trained…Posted by euronews on Monday, March 7, 2016