At the end of her term as Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johannsson maintains that the European Union has been a pioneer in reaching a consensus on immigration that allows practical agreements.
The outgoing European Commissioner for Home Affairs defended that good migration management will remove “fuel” from the extreme right and considered the approval of the migration policy a victory for her mandate.
“I am not going to be naive, there are still challenges, but we have shown that migrations They are a problem that can be managedespecially when we work together,” said Ylva Johansson, in an interview with Lusa and other news agencies.
The commissioner considered that five years ago, when she took office, the political decisions on migration ““They were seen as a toxic topic.”
“Nobody really wanted to get ahead and I think that has changed dramatically and the decision of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum is historic,” he added.
The commissioner maintained that the European Union was a pioneer in this matter: “If we look at a global level, in fact, we are the only ones who have managed to agree on a comprehensive migration pact.”
“Let’s look at the United States of America, for example. In 40 years they have not achieved bipartisan support [do Partido Democrata e do Partido Republicano] in this matter, and they are still far from achieving it,” he added.
Ylva Johansson stated that “95%, perhaps 97% of the positions of the Member States [sobre as migrações] They are a demographic issue and only about 3% are ideology”. Each Member State had its own concerns, which is why it took so long to find the most consensual path possible.
But solving the problem of migration also has an effect on ideology, that is, on weakening xenophobic, racist and discriminatory ideas, he stated.
“If we continue to work together and show that it is possible to manage [as migrações]In the long term this will take oxygen away from the extreme right,” he argued.
“We were failing on immigration and that was fuel for the extreme right,” he summarized.
The Canary Islands, an archipelago in Spain, is a cause for concern as the flow of people, mainly from Africa, has increased dramatically, something that Ylva Johansson says needs to be addressed in the next legislature.
And looking ahead to the next five years, with Ursula von der Leyen still at the head of the European Commission, but with another Home Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson pointed out three challenges for the community executive: international conflicts, climate change and the Presidency of USA. States of Republican Donald Trump.
These three issues, he added, are also the cause of people moving.
Source: Observadora
