Comment on the refugee agreement: Now only dirty deals will help

Close your eyes and get through: The EU is now also supporting Lebanon so that fewer refugees come to Europe. In this way, she avoids a long overdue debate about functioning asylum rules.

By Kathrin Schmid, ARD studio Brussels

Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, most recently Mauritania – and now Lebanon. Both eyes are being turned ever tighter in order to achieve a single goal: fewer refugees in Europe.

Of course, the small island republic of Cyprus has massive problems. Around 4,000 Syrians have crossed from Lebanon by boat since the beginning of the year. The refugee camps are hopelessly overcrowded and asylum applications can no longer be processed. And: Cyprus, like Italy, Malta and Greece, has the problem that the rest of the EU club doesn’t help – or doesn’t help enough, too slowly. Cyprus stands alone and calls for help.

Countries suffer from totalitarian rulers

And that fits into the concept of the head of the EU Commission, who works the non-European Mediterranean region like a traveling salesman. In his luggage: EU billions and flowery words. It’s about politically and economically supporting Lebanon, which is striving for better things.

What is ignored: Many of the countries suffer primarily from their totalitarian rulers. The EU has already gotten involved with Tunisia’s head of state, who announced shortly after the family photos with the EU’s top staff that his country “does not accept anything that resembles grace or alms.” It was previously known that he had refugees from sub-Saharan Africa abandoned in the desert without water.

Many children have to work

Now Lebanon: It is in a deep economic crisis, its own people are slipping into ever greater hardship. According to UNICEF, one in ten families is forced to send their children to work, mainly because of decades of corruption in politics and business. According to Human Rights Watch, Lebanese officials discriminate against Syrians and sometimes torture them to force them to return home.

Everything is known – the EU tolerates others getting their hands dirty for them. The Cypriot president is now demanding that it be checked whether some regions of Syria – mind you, the civil war country from which most people have the right to remain in the EU – can now be classified as safe and people can return there. The UN refugee agency says “no”.

Solidarity and asylum rules

But if the Lebanese president does “the job” for himself, the EU will save itself a painful debate. Especially since speed is also crucial. Europe urgently relies on more isolation. It will probably take another one or two years before the asylum and migration pact that has just been agreed takes effect.

Self-inflicted misery: The EU had previously neglected to work on new, functioning asylum rules for years. Just like the solidarity among the 27 EU states. Because this isn’t likely to happen in the future, only dirty deals will probably help now. At least the majority of EU states want it that way – and then please don’t sugarcoat anything.