Activity

Little Greece gives a big lesson to the EU! In a nutshell, the EU refuses any help for the illegal immigrants coming into Greece, saying it is up to the Greeks (same story in Italy and Malta). In reality very few of those people are real refugees from a war zone, so they just go out to join the illegal labour force. The Athens government has astutely given thousands of those immigrants “refugee status” that under international law entitles them “protection”. This includes board, lodging and the right to travel – guess where – to the other EU countries (including Switzerland which is part of Schengen). The newly-authorised refugees then travel to, say, Germany, as ask for residence there as refugees; when the Germans point out that they have to go back to Greece to get benefits, they produce a statement by Greek government saying that it cannot provide adequate benefits precisely because of the EU-imposed austerity measures that have cut back the welfare system. Maybe our friend in Greece can expand on this.