The UK's dear Dave Cameron has recently been in Brussels, and elsewhere, on a mission to stop newly arriving UK immigrants from receiving benefits for the first four years of their stay; both Germany and France are against this, claiming that it is a 'cornerstone principle' of European policy.
Does this mean, therefore, that all recent immigrants in both Germany and France instantly received generous benefits on arrival in those countries? One presumes so!
In which case, why are all those campers in Calais so desperate to head north? Surely they must know that the UK's weather won't be to their liking; and that UK benefits are much the same as in mainland Europe. So what's the obsession with Blighty, and why are they living in tents?
If I was one of those Calais campers, presumably with my pockets filled with French Euros and generous housing benefits, I'd be heading south to Marseille, or Toulon, or Perpignan; or even to Aix-en-Provence.
If they are all there illegally, why are the French not doing something about them? I just don't understand.
Have I missed something?
N.B.This isn't immigrant bashing, as a few might suggest. I am genuinely puzzled. As I've said many times before; why doesn't the French government give them residency papers, and a few Euros, then they could all buy a cheap ferry ticket, and travel to the UK perfectly legally (if that's where they really want to go).
They think they will be more welcome in the UK than in France and more quickly dealt with i.e. given money and accommodation and the NHS. If they have any knowledge of a second language it is likely to be English so England is where they come and they think this will help them get a job. Those are some of the reasons. They have seen pictures of London buses and Big Ben and they liked Mrs Thatcher and Mr Churchill and they think it is still like that because that is what they saw on the traffickers page of Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI can understand all that, what I can't understand is why the French simply want to huddle them all together in a squalid camp, and do nothing about them. Surely if they gave them 'papers' they could be rid of them at once! There's only a few thousand of them; they could have them processed in less than a week.
DeleteThe French can't give out asylum for another country, or papers saying the UK will let you in. Italy and French railways give them tickets to get rid of them as far as Calais. Marseille send them north. Pass the parcel.
DeleteIf they held European residency papers, the UK would HAVE to accept them; it's in the rule book.
DeleteNot enough for UK; you have to have a Passport.
DeleteI think most Syrians are taught English as a second language in school. It'll be easier for them in the UK, or USA or Canada etc. if they can get there. Learning a decent level German, enough to get a good job, from scratch at the age of 30 may be difficult for most.
ReplyDeleteThe people at Calais are mostly Moroccans and others from the African continent. It's just that I can't understand why the authorities here are just keeping them all in some dreary camp instead of getting rid of them (to the UK).
DeleteThat's interesting. I never heard of any wars or similar problems in Morocco recently. I thought refugee status was for desperate people like Syrians.
DeleteI thought people went to Morocco for their holidays. I don't get it either.
DeleteThe people at Calais are not strictly 'refugees', most of them are economic migrants. This still doesn't change why France is herding them into a filthy camp, and doing nothing about them.
DeletePeople with money go to Morocco for their holidays. Moroccans with no jobs go to Europe in search of work.
DeleteThat is why they are called economic migrants and not asylum seekers.
DeleteWhat brilliant, analytical minds you both have. It's so good to get the perspective from both sides of the Atlantic, even if one does come from Norfolk.
DeleteYes well if you'd read it in the tine of voice I wrote it you'd have got it.
DeleteAustria is sending economic migrants back to the Balkans. They are only taking refugees.
DeleteFrance sent 8,000 people back to Rumania when Sarkozy was in charge. Many were sleeping in cardboard boxes under the bridges of the Seine I believe. Not good for tourism.
The principal of giving benefits to refugees as soon as they arrive in the U.K. is a simple one as far as I can tell. We as a nation find it difficult to walk past people who are starving to death on the streets, whether they deserve food or not. It messes the place up even more than it is already.
ReplyDeleteCameron's suggestion that they would have to be here for 4 years before being fed if they arrive with no money (possibly having given it all to the traffickers), could be construed as a thinly veiled suggestion that they need not bother coming here at all unless they can contribute to the economy.
Even trained doctors and nurses are capable of running out of money, as are children and their mothers.
Oh, and I should also add that the spirit of hospitality has - up until very recent times - been stronger in Moslem societies than Christian ones like ours. I knew many people who landed themselves on poor families in Afghanistan in the 60s and 70s, knowing that if they ran out of money on the hippie trail, the families would be morally obliged to feed them.
DeleteIt's all relative. If a doctor runs out of money he is spending too much and hasn't done his basic economics.
DeleteOr is being shot at, along with his relatives.
DeleteAll this still doesn't answer my question; why are the French keeping all these people in a squalid camp, when they could be moving them on by giving them the necessary papers? This has nothing to do with starving immigrants.
DeleteI suspect the reason is the language - more people from other countries speak at least some English, rather than German or French.
ReplyDeleteMy point is not why they want to get to the UK, but why the French seem to be keeping them in that ghastly Calais camp site, and not helping them move on.
DeleteIt's all beyond me too Cro, I can't waste time getting all het up about it I've got some crochet to do. ha ha.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
It all a big mystery.
DeleteEnglish language might be one reason. But I would think French is a second language to a lot of North Africans.
ReplyDeleteJust had a discussion with the other half about it and he thinks it might be because one can 'disappear' easily in the UK once you manage to enter. Lack of ID-cards and the necessary follow-up bureaucracy from the moment you were born or have settled as a foreigner(like in the rest of Europe).
Ireland is a similar case (but who wants to live here unless you're a feckin' hippy);)
No official body has come and looked into us as foreign nationals, ever. The only officials that have knowledge and follow up on us is the Belgian Embassy.
When we settled in France and back in Belgium we got a visit from the local police who took our data and cross referenced them with whoever, whatever. And quite frankly I don't care if this is a intrusion on my personal freedom.
In this case I'm all for bureaucracy.
I don't have any residency permit for France (I did when I first came 43 years ago). No-one seems to mind my being here. I'm no drain on the economy, in fact I import all my income from the UK, so I'm the perfect 'foreigner'. The only time we've had an official visit was yonks ago when we first arrived, and some people wanted to see the car that I'd imported. By this time I'd sold the car, so the Customs Men all had a picnic in the sunshine before heading off back to Bordeaux.
DeleteOf course they don't mind you being there. But they know you're there.
DeleteWe also get our income from Belgium and spend it here in Ireland where we live.
Can't tell you any anecdotes about sunshine and picnics as it's always bloody raining here. ;)
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ReplyDeleteGood post and certainly perplexing, if not somewhat humourous points!
ReplyDeleteThe bigger question that begs an answer: why don't the surrounding oil rich Muslim countries take in these refugees? Why do these refugees automatically head to Europe and then eventually demand to practice their faith without limitations (in a way no other religion in their countries are allowed to)? Wouldn't it behoove them to stay in a more Muslim centric country not at war, etc?!
The only logical explanation to why the wealthiest of the Arab countries won't accept them, is that they know what sort of people they are, and they have enough trouble as it is.
DeleteOn the question of religion, I believe it's the Saudis who are paying for all the huge number of mosques being built across Europe; I wonder why!
No logical reason why the French want to keep them in Calais, except that they probably don't know what to do with them now that the UK obviously won't accept them.
ReplyDeleteIf they do get to the UK, are they all part of some grand scheme to undermine the British way of life even further? They might initially disappear, but will the majority resurface later, toting guns or wired up as suicide bombers?
That 'British way of life' has already gone. I find it quite shocking.
DeletePut them on an island.Throw away the key and let the racist locals guard them.Tony Abbot did this and stopped the boats. Genius!!
ReplyDeleteAren't there some empty islands off Scotland somewhere?
DeleteFrom reading most of the comments it appears that the Dublin Accords or whatever they are called are a thing of the past, merely tossed away by Merkel (is this legal?) and that anyone entering the EU schengen zone should be allowed to go where he likes. Maybe nobody told France that the UK is not in the schengen zone. Merkel said that the end of the schengen could bring about the end of the euro. That's because its the basically same countries who use the euro who have the schengen. If France doesn't want them and they don't want to look after them and they don't want to send them back to Morocco they should logically send them to a neighbouring euro zone/ schengen country who will take them. They should ask Germany, Italy. Spain and Belgium.
ReplyDeleteI'm even more puzzled than you Cro after reading all that.
ReplyDelete