In addition to wars, famine and droughts, the current coronavirus pandemic could trigger a new wave of immigration towards Europe, Swiss migration expert Eduard Gnesa warns.

“Following the previous ones, Europe and Switzerland are threatened by another wave of the coronavirus, but this one is migratory in its nature,” Gnesa said.

He was director of the Swiss Federal Office of Immigration, Integration and Emigration between 2001 and 2004 and in 2009 was appointed special ambassador of international cooperation in migration. Now retired from public service, Gnesa currently owns a consultancy firm in Switzerland, KMES Partners.   

Gnesa illustrates his claim with the situation on the US-Mexico border. In February alone, US Border Patrol officers blocked 100,000 illegal migrants from entering US. territory and Mexico itself fears a wave of migration at its southern borders. Many immigrants are counting on the migration policy of Democrat President Joe Biden, which is, unlike his predecessor, taking a pro-migration, open borders turn.

Gnesa expects that as soon as border restrictions are lifted, significant increases in migration statistics can be expected immediately. In this regard, the expert notes that he expects a steady increase, with a maximum of 15,000 applications per year in Switzerland. In this regard, it should be noted that a previous estimate of his proved to be conservative. In 2015, his analysis predicted 30,000 asylum seekers, while the actual number was 40,000 in Switzerland.

Gnesa’s assumption is also echoed in relevant EU and World Bank analyses. A similar conclusion is reached, for example, by a research institute attached to the European Parliament (EASO Asylum Report 2020), at the end of which the authors describe that middle- and low-income states typically serve as starting points for migration routes. That is why if the coronavirus hits these countries hard, it will trigger migration trends to Europe.

The World Bank examined, among other things, the financial transactions of migrants in Europe on their way home. This is a significant data point because, according to World Bank analysis, a significant share of the GDP of the poorest countries (nearly 10 percent) comes from remittances from migrants in developed countries.

Thus, if economic problems also occur in developed countries (in this case, for example, if an immigrant working as a waiter in Europe cannot transfer enough income home to Africa to help his or her own family), this is also reflected in the GDP of the migrant’s country of origin. The World Bank has clearly shown that remittances to low- and medium-economy countries fell by roughly 20 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year (from $554 billion to $445 billion). Even more strapped for cash, those who previously chose to remain in their native countries, could also resort to migration.

https://rmx.news/article/article/swiss-expert-warns-covid-may-trigger-migration-wave-to-europe

Elected mayor of Meylan, east of Grenoble in the French department of Isère, a year ago, the politician of the “Diverse Left” had, according to the French magazine “Valeurs actuelles”, ” taken it into his head to bring to its knees the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X, a traditionalist Catholic movement, which wants to build a church in the commune”. But the Grenoble administrative court ruled otherwise on April 15, rejecting the request to annul a building permit previously granted – by a previous majority in the municipal council. The application for annulment had been filed in 2018 by the left-wing association “Medya”, which is close to the current mayor Philippe Cardin.

Despite this setback, the magazine continued, Cardin insists on his negative stance and asks the state for support: “I ask for the support of the representatives of the state, the government and our parliamentarians to fulfil our responsibility to fight against obscurantism and all religious extremisms,” he said in a press release.

Two and a half years ago, the former mayor of the community, Jean-Philippe Blanc, voted in favour of the building permit for this church of the Priestly Fraternity. Which was a perfectly logical decision, Valeurs actuelles notes, since the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X already maintains a priory here and a public school founded in 1992. At the time, Blanc explained: “The brotherhood has been resident in the parish for 25 years”. It had always been quiet concerning them.

Even though there have never been any problems, the new mayor still wants to prohibit the church building. The reason he gives is: “They are against freedom of faith, freedom of expression, freedom of conscience”. If this church were actually built, “these people will gather people who will stir up violence and tensions”, Cardin warns. The Bishop of Grenoble, Guy de Kerimel had raised the controversy “gently”.

Even though he sees no reason to “oppose the construction of this church”, he sees it as a problematic counterpoint in this matter. In his view, the tug-of-war between the mayor and the Priestly Fraternity is proof of the problematic nature of the Separatism Law: “This situation shows all the fragility of this law. The different aspects are not clearly defined, so perhaps the politicians lack a little objectivity”.

Recently, the mayor of the commune of Albertville (19,000 inhabitants), north-east of Meylan, had been forced by the administrative court to authorise the construction of a private Muslim school for 400 pupils of the Islamist movement Milli Görüs. This project was described by the prefect of the department, Pascal Bolot, as “separatist” and “oversized”.

For the mayor of Meylan, there can be no difference in treatment between Islamist movements and a traditionalist current of the church, explains the magazine Valeurs actuelles. “What is said in the separatism law is that the state wants to fight all those who fight the roots and the values of the republic. And I believe that Civitas and the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X are fighting the values of the Republic,” Cardin said in an interview.

Speaking to the magazine Valeurs actuelles, Father Benoît de Jorna, the French District Superior of the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X, highlighted the mayor’s contradictory statements: “We are supposed to be against freedom of faith, and at the same time they want to ban us from a place of worship where we profess our faith. Who is against this freedom here?” Moreover, Father de Jorna noted that the Republic must be very vulnerable when “a small church in the province with less than 300 seats threatens it in such a way!” This is precisely the problem with this separatism law, writes the magazine, that the “traditionalists” are being ” poured out with the separatist bathwater”.

https://www.die-tagespost.de/politik/aktuell/franzoesischer-buergermeister-gegen-bau-einer-kirche-der-piusbrueder;art315,217770

Time and again, German or Austrian media report on a disproportionately high share of migrants in Corona hospitals or intensive care patients (about 60 per cent). Only a fortnight ago, Gottfried Waldhäusl, Lower Austria’s regional councillor for asylum, declared on Facebook that more than 50 percent of Corona patients have a migration background, which drew massive criticism from the usual circles. Also the internet portal unzensuriert reported extensively on the topic in March. There are many reasons for this – for example, lack of education, lack of language skills, no interest in local regulations, small flats, low percentage of home-based work, poverty. In German clinics there is already a special (unofficial) term for such cases: “patients with communication blockade”.

Now a new (but not surprising) factor has been added – Ramadan, which has been taking place since April 13. Until May 12, devout Muslims have to fast during the day. In the evening, the so-called breaking of the fast takes place, usually in larger company (not only with family members). Using the example of Tyrol, where the infection figures are currently rising particularly strongly, the newspaper Kronen Zeitung has now shown that there is a direct connection between Ramadan and the situation in the covid wards of the hospitals.

As doctors assure (in secret), the Covid patients are mostly Muslims who practise Ramadan. This is also reflected in the official Corona figures in the country: these are highest in those municipalities where particularly many Muslims live, for example in Innsbruck (502 active cases), Kufstein (119), Telfs (99) and Reutte 50) – as of Monday evening.

Medical experts are particularly concerned about the three-day final fast at the end of Ramadan. After that, a renewed sharp increase in new infections is feared.On the part of the respective hospital operators, they justify not addressing the problem by pointing out that they do not collect data on the patients’ religious affiliation. It is not yet known whether and what measures the state government will take.

The fact that, due to the prevailing “politically correct” ideology, any reference to migrants as potential source of infection is immediately dismissed as “racism” or “right-wing extremism”, no matter what the facts are, is certainly an obstacle. This makes a factual discussion or the implementation of effective countermeasures almost impossible.

https://www.unzensuriert.at/content/127840-ramadan-als-corona-treiber-politische-korrektheit-erschwert-gegenmassnahmen/

About six months after the terrorist attack in Vienna, the mother of a victim from Bavaria is suing the Republic of Austria for the payment of damages and compensation for pain and suffering. The trial will take place on May 17 at the Regional Court for Civil Matters in Vienna, a court spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday, according to a report in the newspaper “Die Presse”.

The mother of a 24-year-old art student from Bavaria claims that the Republic of Austria did not sufficiently follow up on clues in the run-up to the attack. “The attack could have been prevented,” says her lawyer Norbert Wess. The lawsuit is about 125,000 euros. The funeral costs alone would have exceeded the payment of 2,000 euros received under the Crime Victims Act several times over, Wess said.

On November 2, 2020, a 20-year-old supporter of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) had shot four passers-by and injured 23 before being killed himself. In its report published in February, an investigative commission had criticised considerable mishaps in the run-up to the crime. For example, the investigators had been aware of a meeting between the later assassin and other Islamists as well as his attempt to buy ammunition for military weapons.

There had been serious indications of the suspect’s continued membership in a terrorist organisation, the commission said. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (BVT) and the Vienna State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LVT) had not cooperated effectively.

The attack was the latest reason for a reform of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Austria, which has been initiated in the meantime.

https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article230721121/Anschlag-von-Wien-Mutter-von-Opfer-aus-Deutschland-verklagt-Oesterreich.html

The EU could soon sign a contract with Pfizer for 1,8 billion additional doses of its anti-Covid vaccine. With deliveries possible until 2023, such a quantity should be enough to vaccinate the entire European population several times over. This is a commercial triumph for the American pharma giant, which has now asserted its supremacy over the European market, as well as for the German laboratory BioNTech which co-produced the famous vaccine Comirnaty.

For AstraZeneca, it’s the descent into hell. After renaming its vaccine in an attempt to restore its image to escape controversy, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group is being sued by Brussels for its multiple delivery delays with a lawsuit filed on April 23 by the Commission with the approval of the Member States.

Since the signing of the contract, only a third of the promised doses have been delivered, procrastination that let Pfizer take a head start. But the American laboratory has not acted exemplary in this area either. In February, the EU was still awaiting a third of the doses promised by Pfizer, reported Reuters on the basis of “several sources within the European Union”.

The Commission is incidentally headed by an ex-minister of Angela Merkel. As for the Russian vaccine, which has cost the Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič his post for having ordered it, its authorization within the EU has been postponed indefinitely.

According to the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Baune, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) should not rule before the end of June on the approval of Sputnik V. That is more than four months after the filing of the Russian application with the relevant European health authorities.

This deadline contrasts sharply with that of Pfizer/BioNtech, approved in less than four weeks at the end of December.

“We will absolutely not need Sputnik V“, said Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Foreign Trade and Vaccination. In short, a boon for the American-German vaccine.

This situation is all the more surprising given that the European Commission usually does not tolerate monopolies. Moreover, several treaties ban such schemes. The example of the takeover by the French Alstom of the Canadian Bombardier in the summer of 2020 is an illustration of this. Brussels had demanded that the two manufacturers sell production sites to competition. When it comes to respect for treaties, the Commission has been uncompromising, at least until recently.

Moreover, media discretion seems to obscure the deaths that have occurred after the injections of Pfizer/BioNtech. Instead, the suspected cases of thrombosis after an injection of AstraZeneca made headlines, so much so that public confidence in this vaccine has totally collapsed. As a result, Pfizer’s ratings went up even though the British-Swedish vaccine could prove to be much less dangerous than its American-German competitor. In any case, this is what has emerged from the figures of Hungarian authorities.

Hungary was the first European state to order the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, and Budapest has drawn up a comparison of the different vaccines administered on its territory between December 26, 2020 and April 20, 2021.

For each 100 000 injections, thirty-two deaths have been recorded for the Comirnaty (Pfizer) against seven for AstraZeneca.

https://freewestmedia.com/2021/04/28/is-pfizer-immune-to-competition/

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) Berlin has called for a consistent approach in dealing with the right-wing extremist Turkish movement of the Grey Wolves in Germany.

It is alarming that the Union of Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations in Europe (ATIB), for example, is under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution on the one hand, but at the same time is a dialogue partner of the Federal Government through its membership in the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD), said Director Remko Leemhuis at the presentation of a study on the activities of the movement. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees a close connection between the Union and the right-wing extremist Turkish “Ülkücü” (Grey Wolves) movement.

Kemal Bozay, a social scientist from Cologne who wrote the study “Türkischer Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland – Die Grauen Wölfe” (Turkish Right-Wing Extremism in Germany – The Grey Wolves) on behalf of AJC Berlin, referred to demonstrations of power by rocker clubs from the movement’s spectrum in German cities. Problematic are also several German-Turkish rappers whose anti-Semitic, nationalistic and Kurdish-hostile lyrics are very popular among some young people of Turkish origin.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution estimates that around 11,000 people belong to the movement in Germany. They describe themselves as “idealists” (Turkish: ülkücü). The 2019 report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution states: “The different manifestations range from classical racism to the fringes of Islamism”.

Last November, the German Parliament had approved a joint motion by the CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP and the Greens calling on the federal government to consider banning the associations of the Ülkücü movement. It is racist, anti-Semitic and anti-democratic and threatens internal security in this country.

According to the report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the “Grey Wolves” are supporters and propagators of nationalist-right extremist ideas. The organisation also has links to the ultra-nationalist MHP party in Turkey, which forms a government alliance with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP.

https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.extremismus-studie-warnt-vor-einfluss-der-grauen-woelfe-in-deutschland.85127b79-3b77-4aea-8da6-f09af2541d7f.html

There is trouble in the Hessian first reception centre for refugees in Gießen. Assault, drugs, theft – the police station Gießen-Nord is called out to the accommodation repeatedly every day. Police officers feel abandoned by politics and their own leadership and report a worrying situation, backed up by cases from their daily work. The regional council in Gießen, which is responsible for the initial reception centre, says that the majority of the 1,800 residents of the asylum centre on Rödgener Street, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people, are behaving inconspicuously and in accordance with the rules. The incidents described by the police officers, however, “largely correspond to what happened”.

The bare figures reflect an increasing escalation. 905 times the police officers of the northern Giessen station were called to the first reception centre last year, the police headquarters confirmed upon request. In 2019, there were 451 calls, and 330 the year before. This list only includes the so-called ad hoc alerts. In addition, there are scheduled operations such as deportations or requests for investigations. On paper, the northern Giessen police station is responsible for the towns of Biebertal, Wettenberg, Lollar, Buseck and Staufenberg. But sometimes he and his officers do not have time to be there for weeks because all their officers are busy at Rödgener Street, one police officer complains. Both verbally and in writing, they have contacted their superiors about the catastrophic situation, but their efforts have come to nothing.

For some years now, more and more residents of the refugee centre have originated from the North African Maghreb countries, mostly young men. They cause much more problems and are much more prone to violence than the Syrians and Afghans who came in greater numbers in the years after 2015 and who are hardly more conspicuous in terms of criminal offences than their German peers, report Giessen police officers. New arrivals are regularly attacked and robbed, women are threatened with sexual assault. The facility’s security service is completely overburdened. Many crimes are committed under the influence of drugs, and disputes often involve their possession.

Internal police documents, quoted by the newspaper “Gießener Anzeiger”, show a frightening picture. In an incident report of January 13, for example, it says: “A 19-year-old Algerian asylum seeker was initially admitted to the Protestant hospital with a suspected wrist fracture. Here he resisted the treatment, so that the attending doctor informed the local police station. The person was calmed down on the spot, so that he was brought back to the HEAE (Hessian Initial Reception Centre, editor’s note), also because he was not wearing appropriate winter clothing. The patrol had not yet properly left the building when the 19-year-old had injured another resident in an argument using a scalpel stolen from the hospital. This time, the accused could no longer be calmed down, so that he had to be taken into custody to prevent further offences.

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/fluechtlingsheim-giessen-polizei-fuehlt-sich-alleingelassen-17310497.html?GEPC=s2&fbclid=IwAR2pk2ZTta5n5aeT9BU2OHfXBqEryaJ6weebZleDI-ro9o9mj8n1_GyA6pM