Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Mauritania and now Lebanon : the list keeps getting longer. In an attempt to stop refugees, the EU enters into agreements with individual countries, closing its eyes to the problem of migration, writes ARD.
Of course, the small island republic of Cyprus has huge problems with them: since the beginning of the year alone, about 4,000 Syrians have reached the island by boat from Lebanon. Refugee camps in Cyprus are hopelessly overcrowded and asylum applications can no longer be processed, says ARD.
But Cyprus's problem, like that of Greece, Italy and Malta, is bigger: the rest of the EU club are not helping - or helping too little and too slowly. Cyprus is left to fend for itself and calls for help, writes the author of the commentary Catherine Schmidt.
Countries with totalitarian rulers
In the background of all this, we now see the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, taking on the role of a traveling salesman. She travels around the Mediterranean region bordering the Community, and she has prepared billions of beautiful words in her luggage. With them now Lebanon must be won for the common cause.
What is not said, however, is that this is how you enter into agreements with authoritarian countries. For example, in Lebanon, the EU is now talking to a head of state who is leaving refugees from sub-Saharan Africa straight into the desert and without water. And no sooner had the family photo with his EU guests dried up than Lebanon's head of state made it clear that his country would not accept "anything resembling alms".
Many children are forced to work
Now and Lebanon – a country in a severe economic crisis, with chronic political and economic corruption and a population facing increasing hardship. According to UNICEF, every tenth family in Lebanon is forced to send their children to work. And Human Rights Watch has evidence that Syrians are discriminated against by Lebanese officials, and in some cases even tortured to force them to return.
All this is well known, but the EU lets others get their fingers dirty for it, comments ARD. Now the Cypriot president is pushing for a review of whether parts of Syria can no longer be declared safe and people returned there. According to the UN Refugee Agency, the answer is “no".
And the asylum rules?
However, if the Lebanese president now "gets the job done", the EU will save itself a painful debate. It is obvious that Europe is betting on building walls. It will probably be another year or two before the recently adopted Asylum and Migration Pact comes into force.
For years, the EU has failed to come up with new, workable asylum rules. The same applies to the solidarity between the 27 member states of the elite club. Since this is also unlikely to happen in the future, only dirty deals, which are desired by most member countries, can help now, writes Kathryn Schmidt in her commentary for ARD.