Clinton says Europe must ‘get a handle’ on migration
NEW YORK: Europe’s leaders need to send a much stronger message that they will no longer offer “refuge and support” to migrants if they want to halt the right-wing populism spreading across the Continent, Hillary Clinton has warned in an interview.
Ms Clinton said that while the decision of some nations to welcome migrants was admirable, it had opened the door to political turmoil, the rise of the right and Britain’s decision to withdraw from the European Union.
“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,” Ms Clinton said in the interview with The Guardian, which was conducted before the US midterm elections this month.
“I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message — “we are not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support” — because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic,” she said.
The issue of migration has been a divisive one worldwide, especially so in Europe, in the wake of an influx of refugees and migrants that, in 2015 alone, drew 1 million people to the continent.
In the US, President Donald Trump has mobilised his base of supporters by focusing on what he calls the perils of immigration. He spoke frequently before the midterm elections about a caravan of immigrants travelling north toward the country’s southern border. Democrats agreed on a strategy of mostly ignoring that issue, but the party is divided on how best to grapple with immigration in general.
Ms Clinton’s remarks to The Guardian drew criticism and a dose of surprise from an array of scholars, pro-immigration advocates and pundits on both the left and right, some of whom were so perplexed by the comments that they wondered aloud whether Ms Clinton had perhaps misspoken. Ms Clinton, many said, has a long history of supporting refugees — a track record seemingly at odds with her recent remarks. Her immigration platform in the 2016 presidential election boasted that “we embrace immigrants, not denigrate them”.
A spokesman for Ms Clinton did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment Thursday night.
“I was kind of shocked,” Eskinder Negash, president and chief executive of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, said of Ms Clinton’s comments. “If she’s simply saying you need to cut down on refugees coming to Europe to ask for asylum because they have a wellfounded fear of persecution, just to appease some right-wing political leaders, it’s just not the right thing to do.”
Tanja Bueltmann, a history professor at Northumbria University in Britain who focuses on migration issues, said Ms Clinton’s perspective was “tragically misjudged.”
“Ultimately, immigration is not actually the problem that inflamed voters: Much more foundational issues, such as austerity, are the real reason,” Prof Bueltmann said. “Immigrants and refugees are simply the scapegoats populists have chosen to use to drive forward their ideas.”
Ms Clinton’s comments came against a complicated backdrop in Europe. Far-right parties have seized on the immigration issue and gained a foothold in parliaments and governments across the continent, while centrist leaders in several countries have undertaken largely successful efforts since 2016 to drastically lower the number of unauthorised immigrants now reaching their borders.
Anti-immigration candidates have risen to power in Italy and Austria, and they have gained seats in countries like Germany. The open migration policies of Ms Merkel, the chancellor of Germany since 2005, ended up causing turmoil within her government and contributed to major electoral setbacks. She recently announced that she would step down as the leader of her conservative party in December and not seek re-election in 2021.