No matter how you look at it, the Agreement between the European Union and Turkey on a joint action plan to address the migration crisis, and send back Syrian refugees, is a disgrace. It will go down in history at best as a temporary cowardice of the EU, at worst as the start of the moral meltdown for all Europeans, and will be followed by the demise of the European Union.
A priori, this agreement is clever, because it may lead refugees to prefer not to go ahead with their trip, that would only take them back to their original departure place. But on close inspection, this agreement is a disgrace, and this will result in nothing short of tragedies. Are we going to put back on boats women and children, in violation of all international conventions, by using force, in order to send them back to Turkey, to the Syrian border, deprived of all the resources they used to help finance their crossing of the Aegean sea? What will we do when some of the refugees will call on European Courts to assert their rights? What will we do when some will commit suicide rather than being sent back to hell? Which seamen will have the heart to get them into boats and transport them? Will they be left in the hands of the traffickers who brought them? Does anyone really believe that the refugees who are willing to put their lives on the line to leave their horrific situation will be dissuaded by the risk of being repatriated? They actually will avail themselves of the services of other smugglers to move across other European borders and avoid the return convoys.
Are we sure that Turkey will really use the money received from Europeans to house, clothe and feed the refugees? Or will Turkey assemble them at the Syrian border, at the mercy of their torturers?
Will we imitate the shameful European nations of the 1930s, who brought back the Jews to German ports, or ports bordering on Germany, soon to be occupied by their executioners? And do we not see, that those who will be humiliated in this manner, and abandoned, will become the worst enemies of the West, worse than those whose barbarity they are fleeing today?
How such an appalling idea ran through the minds of honorable people? No doubt they have lost their sense of history and have only thought about small tactics, losing their souls and preparing a horrific future for us tomorrow.
There is still time to wake up and avoid the worst. In deciding to:
1. Receive, in accordance with international and European law, that commits us, all political refugees who will come to us. On the assumption they represent an asset for our future.
2. Expel, by respecting their rights, all those who do not hold this status.
3. Establish a fierce border police force, not to stop the refugees but the traffickers.
4. Sign an agreement with Turkey, not to send refugees back to this country but to go after the smugglers and those who help them.
5. Use all means, including military, to help Syria find an order so peaceful that refugees will want to return home.
6. Then help rebuild the region.
All this is going to be less costly than the amount of money that we are about to give to the Turks without any control, based on the current plan of the European Union’s leaders. And also far more cost-effective than the bill we will have to pay when that plan will have failed.
There is still time to save our soul and secure our interests. Let’s demand it from our leaders!
j@attali.com