Refugee crisisEurope is not the solution to the plight of millions of refugees: Helmut Kohl
Former German chancellor Helmut Kohl has raised concerns about the number of refugees entering Europe. Kohl, who led Germany during the end of the cold war and the reunification of the country, and who was a strong was for greater integration of Europe, said the refugees issue is tied to the EU’s peace and freedom, and that the solution to the refugees’ plight is not in Europe.
Map showing EU nations part of the Schengen accord // Source: brookings.edu
Former German chancellor Helmut Kohl has raised concerns about the number of refugees entering Europe.
Kohl, who led Germany during the end of the cold war and the reunification of the country, and who was a strong was for greater integration of Europe, said the refugees issue is tied to the EU’s peace and freedom, and that the solution to the refugees’ plight is not in Europe.
In a column published on Sunday in the German newspaper Tagesspiegel am Sonntag, titled “Lösung der Flüchtlingskrise liegt nicht in Europa” (“The solution to the refugee crisis is not located in Europe”), Kohl, now 86-year-old, says the EU’s refugee policy would not alleviate the problems facing both Europe and the displaced people themselves.
“The solution lies in the affected regions,” he writes. “It does not lie in Europe. Europe cannot become a new home for millions of people in need around the world.”
Business Insider reports that the column will appear shortly before Kohl met with Hungarian outspoken prime minister Viktor Orban, who has been the subject of pointed criticism from other EU members for highlighting the fact that most of the refugees arriving in Europe are Muslims as the reason for his resistance to taking them in, and for building razor-wire fences and other protective measures on Hungary’s borders.
“We are aware that we have something to lose and that it is worth fighting for the European project for peace and freedom,” Kohl wrote, echoing Orban.
Some analysts said the article and the meeting with Orban were indications of Kohl’s growing rift with his former protégé, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been leading the EU refugee policy.
The analysts note that critics of Merkel from the right – either from her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) or from the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) – have used meetings with Orban to demonstrate their disagreements with Merkel’s refugee policy. Last month, Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CSU, also made the trip to Budapest to meet with the Hungarian leader.
