Bart De Wever: “Europe must tackle problems”

According to N-VA Chairman Bart De Wever, the victory of Front National in the French regional elections is a clear signal to Europe. “European leaders cannot ignore this. Otherwise they will be making the same mistakes of the past, which will only increase extremism.”

“The French election result is the umpteenth writing on the wall, on which there are already so many,” De Wever states. “Resistance is growing in Eastern Europe. In Great Britain the debate about Brexit rages on. The Danes rejected the EU justice policy, and even the Swedes are now carrying out border control. Europe can no longer hesitate and must tackle these problems.”

De Wever pleads for more stringent measures to curb the flow of refugees. “Mixed with the threat of terror, this forms a dangerous cocktail. We currently have no control whatsoever over who comes in. Thanks to State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, Theo Francken, and Minister of Security, Jan Jambon, extensive safety screenings of the asylum seekers now take place. But as long as the flow itself continues, events will overtake us.”

A dead-end street
“Europe must take its responsibility and no longer enlist other countries to take care of our business. It means that we must carry out push-backs to safe countries, that we must close Schengen borders, and that we must organise shelter in our own region. We must remove Greece from the Schengen zone if it leaves the door wide open, and we must stop allowing ourselves to be blackmailed by Turkey. Otherwise, polarization between sections of the population will increase, not only in France but also in other European countries, and we will end up chained to this treadmill,” De Wever warns.

“We have no time to lose. The flow coming from the Mediterranean Sea is decreasing due to bad weather conditions. But the flow of refugees will gather pace again during spring. Europe will have to be ready by then to provide sufficient shelter at the border, where first triage can take place. Otherwise we will end up in the same situation we are now in, with disastrous consequences for the fabric of our society,” the N-VA Chairman concludes.