Syrian civil war is ongoing since 2011, but the end of this bloodshed seems to be still far-fetched. On the contrary, the indirect confrontation between Russia and the U.S. on this field seems to grow in tensions in a way that could sometimes remind us of the cold-war period.
A government-initiated referendum on European Union migrant quotas will be held in Hungary on October 2, 2016. It is a part of the Hungarian government’s campaign to use the refugee and migrant crisis (and the dissatisfaction of citizens with the EU) to gain back voter support – and it works very well.
There are two parallel debates going on in Europe: an ideological one about the role of Europe, and a technocratic one, about policy solutions proposed based on the first debate. And while many of the member states and their political parties try to win the first, the EU only seems to care about the second one.
The actions of the Fidesz-KDNP government are pushing the public towards dangerous sentiments. According to the latest public polls, a significant number of Hungarians considers the migrants repulsive. The government campaigns are not the sole reason for this situation but they did contribute to this problem.
“My youth, with all its advantages and drawbacks of that time, ended in Bosnia when I was splashed with parts of human brain. I was 23 years old”. When I have read this, I had trouble calming down. What must happen to make a 23-year-old woman leave a comfortable life behind and go to a place where death is so common? It all has started in Kosovo. That was my first experience of such a…
Following the tragic attacks in Paris and subsequent events in Africa, the debate on multiculturalism and immigration has been given a brand new flame. Both camps have thrown in their big guns.
If we don’t want the xenophobic biases to become self-fulfilling prophecies, preparations to be made prior to the arrival of refugees need to go far beyond increasing the number of beds in refugee camps. A successful integration of refugees requires a complex and coherent system
The information biases lead to creating a picture of Muslim migrants as homogeneous crowd of Islamists. Even if experts recognize that not all migrants are extremists, it is often emphasised that terrorists fighting in favour of the Islamic State might be among them.
Hungarian government started building a fence on the border with Serbia to ward the immigrants off. The construction, stretching over 170 kilometers, is not in any way a solution to the problem of immigration. All that the fence will do is manifest Hungary’s separation from Europe.
The refugee wave which has affected the European Union is different every year. Nevertheless, it does not subside. It may change in terms of the number of refugees and their nationality, but it is still a serious issue in the EU.
