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The series of ECR Party debates at the Europa VIVA 24 event in Madrid (capital of Spain), an event organised by Vox Spain, was opened by a panel that tackled a very sensitive and at the same time extremely hot topic for the European continent: illegal immigration. In front of an impressive attendance and important leaders of European conservatives, the European Union’s policies on migration were discussed, policies that currently seem to be insufficient in the face of the waves of migrants and which, at the same time, by imposing quotas for the acceptance of migrants, are suffocating the small countries of the EU.
The fight for a safe and prosperous Europe is a real challenge for the entire European political class, regardless of which side of the political spectrum those who make decisions for the Union belong to. The main dangers facing Europe due to illegal immigration and irresponsible measures taken by the European Commission were discussed under the moderation of journalist Marilu Lucrezio (Rai Brussels correspondent) by Zvonimir Troskot (International Secretary of Most party, member of Parliament Croatia), Adela Mîrza (president of Alternativa Dreaptă Party, Romania) and Rocio de Meer (member of Parliament, Vox Party, Spain).
The speakers on stage discussed the security of EU borders, the law and order that immigrants arriving in Europe should respect, the external threats facing the old continent, the European cultural and demographic problem, the birth rate issue and, last but not least, the national sovereignty of Member States in the context of the integration of migrants into society. At the same time, the debate highlighted the urgency of taking appropriate measures to ensure that asylum seekers in EU countries receive humane treatment while respecting Europe’s Christian values.
All the speakers on stage promoted similar ideas and common principles to join forces in order to create sustainable and effective policies. At the same time, they called for the promotion of a superior political and economic model, adapted to the current European context for a united Europe, where every citizen can enjoy equal rights and protection, regardless of their country of origin.
Three weeks before the European elections, it is only natural that the discussion should focus on Europe. The question is: what kind of Europe do we want as conservatives, as people who love our home countries? At the moment our European values, everything we hold dear, are under attack every day. The Brazilian Eurotract wants to create a European superstate to change international treaties. The policy currently being conducted from Brussels is on a course where European leaders want to eliminate the paradigm so that all decisions, all important decisions, are taken not in Madrid, not in Warsaw, not in Europe, but in Brussels and perhaps in one or two other European capitals, capitals that always thrive on the eurozone, the capital that always thrives on the Green Deal and other ideological, crazy ideas. European conservatives are vehemently opposed and say no to these policies, because Europe belongs to Europeans, our Europe represents the European nations. It is Europe that is united, but is rich in its diversity. During the first panel of the ECR Party’s European Culture Weekend conference it was stressed that European Conservative leaders do not want a single superstate to be run from Brussels. They no longer want more Timmermans like Urs von Der Leyen, deciding how their own countries are run. The national governments of EU countries know this because they are democratically elected. The European Commission is not democratically elected, but should therefore have the powers of a democratic government.
Currently 10% of Croatia’s population are immigrants
According to Zvonimir Troskot, a fairly representative 10% of Croatia’s population are immigrants. Located in southern Europe, Croatia is a magnet for immigrants on the Balkan route to Slovakia and from there to Germany and Austria. In this context, the native Croatian population is scared of the anti-social actions of migrants who often look like soldiers or well-trained people. Zvonimir Troskot pointed out that he did not see many women and children among the migrants. This is why the Croatian state considers illegal immigration a national security issue.
“I am very glad to be here and I would like to say my thanks to the organisers. I come from a very small country, Croatia and I am very honoured to be here today, especially because I come and I represent the constituency in Croatia that has been heavily influenced and under attack, I would say, from the migrants. It has been a hot, hot topic in Croatia ever since 2015, but not that I see on the field. People are very scared and they have fears because, especially with regards to the people that live next to the border, whenever someone opens up the topic of migrations, the migrants immediately the Islamophobic or Xenophobic labels start popping up. But these labels immediately drop off here because there are a lot of minorities that are living next to the borders. Muslims or Serbs as well, we are having the same issues which cause our actual suffering. The thing is, I have seen now, it is not even the migration of crisis. For us, it is the matter of national security because the migrants are actually passing through Croatia in the smallest part, we call it the soft valley of Croatia, where they are passing through our territories and going into Slovenia. Now, what happens now, people feel so unsafe, that you cannot leave your child alone, and the child has to be escorted to the school. Elderly people are scared of the migrants who look like soldiers and who look like very well trained people, not the poor guys coming from countries that are suffering from war. As I am coming from the constituency which is suffering the most from the migration of crisis, I see no women,
I see no children, I see people being threatened by guns and machetes and knives as well. I have seen the small groups of migrants which are basically like a military unit and I spoke about it openly ever since we saw the crisis happening in Croatia. Being here, I would like to say a couple of more points. Not only that people are feeling unsafe, not only that people are looking for security, I would like to praise our police guys, police officers, which are doing a great job. But there are two reasons why they are not more efficient […] one of our solutions for the troubles that we are having is sending the military on the borders because police guys are not able to cover everything over there. Now the insecurity which is happening in the forests of the border of Croatia and Bosnia has been transferred from the forest to the highways. And we had a case where the migrants and traffickers actually killed a family, the parents of a child and just in a day they just vanished. There was a highway from Rijeka, which is the third biggest city in Croatia. And all of a sudden there was a van which was packed with migrants and there was an accident where people got killed. So we have these insecurities not only in the forests, not only in the parts where the migrants are actually massacred in Croatia, but we have the issue now in the highways and the local ways people feel very insecure driving their cars in that area” stressed Zvonimir Troskot.
What will Europe look like in a decade?
Adela Mîrza, president of Alternativa Dreaptă Party, asked the audience a rhetorical question. If the European Union accepts immigrants indefinitely, “What will Europe look like in a decade?” At the same time Adela Mîrza stressed that all those who want to come to Europe must do so legally because European laws must be respected. Moreover, the president of the Alternativa Dreaptă Party stressed that the plan to repatriate illegal immigrants to culturally compatible countries must be supported. She gave the example of Italy, saying that the policy of the government of Gorgia Meloni should be applied to all EU countries.
“You can’t support something that is illegal. Everyone who wants to come to Europe must come legally. According to our laws. Law, order and compassion. We are full of compassion, we try to help them, but do it legally. Our laws must be respected and honoured. Our solutions for that: Italy has a plan, it’s called the Mattei plan. It only works for Italy. Maybe the whole of Europe should embrace the Mattei plan or try to work on something similar. Keep migrants in countries with similar cultures, similar religions. Offer them something there, invest there in technology in job creation. Keep them there by helping them there. Maybe when the war is over or the crisis in their country is over, they can go back there.
Enforce border control. Double the number of security agents and even physical control if necessary. I know it sounds harsh but this is the only way to maintain a secure Europe. Try to keep the borders secure. Otherwise we don’t have a country. What Romania has done. We had our war refugees. Real war refugees, from Ukraine. And we housed them as best we could. We did a good job and we will continue to do so. But there is something else to consider and I said this at the ECR conference in Cyprus. Watch out for the eastern borders. Europe is not only threatened from the south. We have a huge bear in the east. If Ukraine falls we will be next. We will not have a Europe if Ukraine falls.Everyone is concerned about Europe’s southern borders.Italy, Spain, Greece and is normal to be so.. The risks of illegal immigration are social economic instability. I don’t want to see what Europe will look like in 10 years. My colleague from Croatia has already mentioned what the risks are. 10% of the Croatian population is already different and Mrs Ursula von Der Leyen and the EU are already trying to impose more quotas of illegal immigrants in Croatia. What will Croatia look like in 10 years? Europe is a Christian continent. We must keep our continent, our values, our families before we help others. Security risks. All these people who are coming are mostly Muslims. They are economic refugees. We cannot support them forever. We already have a broken system. We already have our problems, our cultural problems. Our system is not working. We need to re-evaluate Europe, our systems, our values. They are coming to Europe, a broken Europe where woke-ism, nihilism, all these left-wing values are trying to win Europe. And they come here and say: look, your system doesn’t work, ours is better… and they stay. We have another problem in Europe, the birth rate. European families don’t have so many children anymore because they want security, they want to play the safe card. They want to raise children only as much as they can bear. They want to give them a secure education, a good future. We raise our children in a culture of responsibility. They don’t care about that. They come to Europe, they have as many children as they want. They don’t think about the future of their children. This is another issue and the most important one is national sovereignty. They come here, they become more and more numerous. You don’t have a country if you don’t have secure borders. If they come here they have to understand one thing. They have to work to integrate to accept our values and become European citizens otherwise they should go back. And our culture is also under threat. We have to keep our values and our culture. We must be able to help ourselves and then help others. You cannot impose the same measures on immigrants that were imposed 30 years ago when the Berlin Wall fell. We have accepted those from Eastern Europe into Western Europe. But today we cannot talk about the same thing. And we have to understand that. For 30 years Europe has been like a sponge that has absorbed populations from all over the world. Syrians, Iraqis, now Palestinians. The only legitimate migrants are war refugees from Ukraine”, stressed Adela Mîrza, president of the Alternativa Dreaptă Party.
Photo by: Eugen Olariu