In a well deserved slap-in-the-face to Angela Merkel, EC president Donald Tusk blasted the Chancellor on Tuesday:
“Cyprus is as important as Germany, France, the Netherlands or any other member state. All animals are equal on my farm,” said Tusk in reference to George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
The chastising pertains to Merkel acting unilaterally to work out an immigration deal with Turkey. I likened that deal to a “Backstabbing Pact With the Devil”
Merkel’s deal is now unwinding. France, Spain, Cyprus and other countries have all spoken out against Merkel.
Tusk now seeks to “rebalance” Merkel’s ridiculous proposal.
The Financial Times reports Tusk Moves Centre Stage to Patch up EU Migrant Deal with Turkey.
Donald Tusk will send all 28 EU national leaders on Wednesday a new draft of a refugee deal with Turkey that, in his own words, “needs to be rebalanced”.
Speaking on Tuesday in Cyprus — a trip necessitated because Ms Merkel’s deal failed to take into account longstanding Cypriot grievances with Turkey — he bluntly signalled that no one leader stood above the rest.
“Let me be clear in this respect: the EU is a union of 28 member states,” he said, standing next to Nicos Anastasiades, Cypriot president. “Cyprus is as important as Germany, France, the Netherlands or any other member state.”
Privately, diplomats say Mr Tusk has likened the German approach to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.
“All animals are equal on my farm,” Mr Tusk has reassured them, one recalled.
Mr Tusk’s task is complicated by the fact he has never shared Ms Merkel’s belief that Turkey is the linchpin of the migration crisis. He has instead advocated “closing” the refugee route through the western Balkans, a policy since implemented by Austria. This has stopped flows northwards but at the cost of creating a 50,000-strong back-up in Greece.
But in addition to soothing Cypriot anger, Mr Tusk must also untangle a knotty legal mess. The Merkel scheme has raised hackles at the UN for potentially violating international law, which prevents wholesale “pushbacks” of asylum seekers without hearing their cases individually.
Can Merkel’s Deal be Saved?
It remains to be seen if Tusk can salvage Merkel’s deal. Not only does Tusk have to convince 28 nations, he also has to convince Turkey.
Here’s an arguably better question: “Should Tusk even bother?”
Merkel promised Turkey many things she could not herself deliver: More money, visa-free access for close to 80 million Turkish citizens (96% Muslim), a repeat of her inane spread the refugees around proposal, and various things regarding the relationship between Turkey and Cyprus.
Meanwhile, Turkey insists visa-free access is a given part of the deal.
Tusk’s original plan was precisely the one in which Austria and Nine Balkan Countries Effectively Told Merkel Go to Hell. In response, Merkel blasted Austria.
She was still unrepentant following her Dramatic Setback at Hands of AfD in Regional Elections.
In a second Wakeup Call: Head of CSU Attacked Merkel as she pledged to “stay the course”.
Donald Tusk provided a third wakeup call today.
Scrap the Deal, Start Over
It would be best to scrap the deal entirely and start over. Merkel should not even be in the negotiation process because she has clearly lost her mind.
This is the message Tusk needs to send: “Hello Merkel, you cannot ‘stay the course’ because you are no longer the one calling the shots.”
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Perhaps Tusk should invite AfD leaders in to help with the negotiating process. The worst part of Merkel’s deal is giving Erdogan’s Turkey 6b to take the refugees back. If they have 6b to spare, why not it give to the refugees to take back home with them and, in Syria’s case, rebuild? Does Merkel really believe Erdogan would use the money to house the refugees?
6b is peanuts.
The asylum seeker crisis (these are NOT refugees) where millions of muslims and africans came to Europe has already cost Europe as follows:
-Just the reception services and accommodation and processing are costing 500 million euros per 10 000 refugees for the first year according to calculations so the bill for only germany is over 50 billion since germany got over 1 million refugees.
This is first year costs only.
-Then comes long time welfare, long time unemployment, family re-unifications straight to welfare, increased crime, need for massive schooling because large percentage can’t even read functionally and many not at all and these costs keep piling up year after year since in european welfare countries immigrants coming through asylum system have massive un-employment and large welfare dependency on average for many many years after arrival and the crime rates especially for rapes and other violent crimes are many times the rate of native populations in Europe.
-The second generation is also very troublesome with increased crime rates compared to native populations and increased school dropout rate and therefore basically repeating the same circumstances their parents had.
There is over 20 years experience in europe of this phenomenon.
-Then comes the total destruction of people’s trust in their government and politicians to act responsibly because they have failed repeatedly and promise to keep failing repeatedly in the name of their ideology and vision of their own genius like Merkel has done which creates an unbelievably sour mood in european societies.
-Germany is in fact destroying their good will among all of their european partners and is thought of as an irresponsible and dangerous by whole of eastern europe and Austria and France and Netherlands and Spain.
Sweden is thought of as complete basket case by all the other scandinavian countries Norway, Denmark and Finland who are putting more restrictions almost every week and are deathly afraid that the rape-epidemic (most rapes in the world after south africa happen in sweden on average based on population) and the killings and burning of cars and ghettoization of parts of Stockholm and Gothenburg and Malmo spreads to their countries.
All kind of immigration which is based on the lure of welfare and asylum shopping for those countries with best welfare levels and most incompetent bureaucrats accepting asylum requests based on just the story told to them like Germany and Sweden have done leads to economic catastrophe long term.
A very clear explanation there by you Katsaus , and I hope you repost it where possible . Unfortunately , by the time most people understand what you are saying , I think their countries will no longer be what they once were, and not for the better .
Germany has always been economically strong but politically naïve. The political naiveté of Germany has often lead to its down fall. A European Union dominated by Germany will lead to the chaos we see today in Europe. The European Union will not have an happy ending.
Tusk doesn’t have any real power. At least not yet. If he plays his cards right, he could use this situation to create a few precedents and have more power in the future.
In Merkel’s corner:
Germany and Sweden:
who invited people to come and guaranteed residence permits and family re-unifications straight to welfare and then were surprised that millions wanted to come and started demanding other european countries also take part of these millions which Germany and Sweden had themselves iiresponsibly INVITED.
Greece and Italy:
who offer no benefits and by themselves would therefore attract NOBODY but whose policy has been to try to push everybody to northern without realizing that easier it is to get through Greece and Italy the more people will come.
In Tusk’s corner:
Austria (max 80 per day others can shout asylum all they want but max 80 per day)
Hungary (triple fencing with razor wire, army at the border)
Poland (sending troops to help build hungarys fences and macedonian fences)
Czech (with hungary and poland)
Slovakia (with hungary and poland)
Denmark (cutting benefits, cutting family re-unifications, confiscating riches, border controls)
France (not letting asylum seekers com through france from italy, telling Merkel she is crazy diplomatically about every week)
Netherlands (tightening asylum policy)
Slovenia (nobody goes through, max 50 asylum seekers per MONTH)
Croatia (nobody goes through)
Spain ( burden sharing is beyond stupid, throwing african asylum seekers straight back over the border in Ceuta and Melilla, border patrols in canary islands)
UK (so happy we are not in Schengen and have opt-outs of Merkel’s stupidity
Bulgaria (fence and razorwire on their borders with Turkey and Greece)
Romania ( with all of their east european neighbors)
trying to be nice to everybody but closing their own borders and tightening policies so as not to attract nobody:
Belgium(border controls towards france, tightening asylum rules)
Finland (cutting benefits and asylum seekers sleeping on the floors of old schools since there was the largest percentage increase of them in all of EU-countries in 2015 in Finland, iraqis returning voluntarily by the thousands, bi-lateral deal with Russia to guard the finnish border from their side so nobody gets near Finland taken back in use (originally from the 70’s)
Out of EU but still mad as hell at Germany and Sweden:
Switzerland (cutting everything and tightening laws and stopping asylum seekers trying to come through italy at the borders and sendimng them back to Italy)
Norway (NOT accepting asylum requests at the borders for people coming through safe countries, Russia and Sweden are considered safe because both have signed Geneve convention, border checks with sweden)
being nice to everybody:
Portugal
Luxembourg
Austria’s friends in the Balkans who are out of EU:
Serbia (closed border towards macedonia)
Macedonia (closed border towards greece with fencing and razor wire and troops from Austria, Poland and Hungary helping the Macedonian troops)
Albania (closed border towards greece)
So Merkel has a coalition of 4 countries all of whom are equally to blame for causing the asylum seeker crisis of 2015 and all for whom the only solution is to invite even more people to come by burden sharing asylum seekers from Greece and Italia all over europe, all for whom the only solution is to invite even more people to come by giving asylum quickly in EU-hotspots in Greece and Italy and spreading asylum seekers from Greece and Italia all over europe.
Merkel is complete failure in EU stage and everybody knows that she is untrustworthy whose word can NOT be trusted (after her latest backstabbing of Tusk and most of europe in Turkey deal) and who is completely blind to the facts and is being driven by idealogy and complete unability to accept the mistakes she has made which caused and deepened the asylum seeker crisis of 2015.
That is the problem Katsaus , everybody doesn’t know . Nor have they read an analysis like your own , nor do they know what the laws are , nor do they realize how a migrant influx will change their society , especially one from a completely different culture to western, nor how hard it becomes to ‘manage’ migrants once they are even only slightly established in a territory . They don’t know . I hope you keep writing and condensing the information as you do , I would like that people open their paper or turn on the news to be presented with what the actual political rejection is across Europe – it would be easier that way than have the whole process flounder without clear reasons being made as to why , with only a lot of resentment to show for it and no proper resolution in sight .
The Animal Farm reference is clumsy. The quote: “All animals are equal” is incomplete. It omits: “… but some are more equal than others.” This is precisely the situation regarding Cyprus specifically, and any other country than Germany generally. Merkel is just trying to finish the job Hitler started over 80 years ago.
Except Hitler was pushing ethnic purity.
I should have specified German hegemony over a forcefully-united Europe. But yes, it is ironic that Merkel is pursuing a diametrically-opposed policy regarding race.
I would go more with Tony Bennet’s comment (+1) , it ‘just so happens’ that the result ‘would’ be a further increased German hegemony over European political realities , a form of soft power where national identities are further rearranged and Germany is understood to be the pivot as an example of resolution to the inevitable discontent . I say ‘would’ in the sense that this is no more than an approach that will not stand the inevitable tests it will be subject to.
Merkel: Hello?
Soros: This is George. We need to flatten borders in order to achieve our One World Government Utopia.
Merkel: Understood.
And all this mess could have been avoided by just not inviting migrants and sealing borders.
The deal with Turkey should be:
EU gives funds for the refugee camps.
Turkey takes back asylum seekers reaching Greece.
NOTHING ELSE!
The deal with Greece should be:
Balkan route is closed, land borders are closed, burden sharing is CANCELLED, eu-hotspots are CANCELLED.
There is no pull factor in Greece if nobody can get through Greece.
For those stupid enough to still pay smugglers thousands EU provides refugee camps similar to those in Turkey.
The deal with Italy should be:
STOP giving every asylum seeker a residence permit with the sole purpose of pushing them to the north.
STOP letting people go through Italy without registering as asylum seekers.
Make a deal with Tunisia or Morocco that all asylum seekers reacued at sea are taken to Tunisia or Morocco like the Australian model is to Nauru.
The deal with Turkey should be:
EU gives funds for the refugee camps.
Turkey takes back asylum seekers reaching Greece.
NOTHING ELSE!
Precisely My Position!
The fact that Tusk quoted George Orwell should be a huge wake-up call to the Brits to chose Brexit this spring.
No other EU country wants to be involved in refugee sharing. All Merkel has to do is give the refugees permanent status then the refugees can go to any EU country they like. Schengen allows this. Easy peasy.
Italy is doing exactly that.
Mass giveaways of residence permits happen in Italy and then Italy pushes these people north because once people have a residence permit they can travel in EU and live where they want and because Italy offers no welfare people leave towards north.
Greece and Italy should be both kicked out of Schengen and EU because they act abusively towards other EU members.