The need for a common European response to migration challenges

I welcome the opportunity to speak to reinforce as strongly as I can Madame Brasseur’s call for action and Mr Mariani’s call for a common European response to the immigration issue. With other colleagues I was part of the delegation that visited the Turkish border camps and I saw at first hand the heroic work and investment by the Turkish government in giving sanctuary and protection to Syrian refugees.

The numbers in Turkey are officially two million but unofficially probably more like two and a half million and certainly there are more to come. The camps are generously fitted out, well run, and cater as best they possibly can for the refugees who have had to leave behind everything they own and throw themselves on the mercy of their neighbour, Turkey, as others have done in Lebanon and Jordan.

We were full of admiration for the Turkish effort. But we were much more than that. We were ashamed, as an International community, ashamed by our own complacency, our indifference, ashamed by our abandonment of one country to be virtually the only volunteer country to unreservedly welcome, and to generously welcome, at a cost already of $6 billion, those fleeing the war in Syria.

Because what we saw in the camps is just a fraction of the story. The camps are home to a quarter million people but another two million have simply been absorbed in towns, villages and cities all around Turkey. In many cases the refugees outnumber the original inhabitants, putting incredible pressure on local services and on local inhabitants.

This situation has been called unsustainable. But it is much more than that. It is a powder keg, one that will explode, if the international community does not come to the aid of the countries suffering the most intense pressure of migration. I’m not naïve enough to think we will all open our doors as completely as Turkey did, although, we could certainly open them a little more in the face of this savage war. But we could certainly help share the financial cost of sanctuary with all such front line countries. It is unthinkable that the citizens, often the poor citizens, of places like the Turkish towns and villages we saw, should be asked to pay the entire price.

This debate must be a wakeup call for all of us on the destabilising impact of escalating migration. Unless a major international effort is made to help refugees restart their lives, get an education, get jobs, get homes, then more radicalisation and terrorism is inevitable. The potential for destabilisation is enormous and not just in Turkey and the front line countries. Migration has long term implications for all countries here and for many who are not. Already migration is influencing elections in Europe, in fact, already it has changed one government in Northern Europe. If we won’t act to help now from reasons of international solidarity, then we must at least do so from self-interest.