The new German chancellor: We will facilitate the arrival of foreigners to work in our country

The new German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said in his first speech to succeed Angela Merkel that "his government will facilitate the arrival of foreigners who want to work and integrate them into society."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that his government will facilitate the arrival and integration of foreigners who want to work in Germany.

This came in Schulz's first speech to parliament as chancellor to succeed Angela Merkel, in which he said that his government would fight right-wing extremism, which was the biggest threat to democracy in the country.

He continued, "We are a country of immigration, but we must work to become a better country in order to integrate."

The new government, which includes an unprecedented coalition of the centre-left Social Democrats, the environmental Green Party and the Liberal Liberal Democrats, plans to facilitate the acquisition of German citizenship and the acquisition of multiple nationalities.

From Lafarge to Banker Holding, How did European companies contribute to killing the Syrian people?

The Danish company "Bunker Holding" for the supply of fuel followed the example of the French company "Lafarge", by preferring to move forward in making profits without caring about fueling the conflict in Syria, shedding more blood and increasing the tragedy of the Syrian people.

Scenes revealing the complicity of European companies in dealing with armed parties that contribute to fueling the conflict in Syria and shedding more blood for the Syrian people and increasing their tragedy, have come back again to the fore, after a Danish court convicted and fined Banker Holding, a fuel supply company, its CEO and a subsidiary unit, for selling fuel Aircraft of the Russian forces in Syria.

The Danish company is following the example of the French company Lafarge, which was proven to be involved in suspicious relations with the PKK and ISIS terrorist organizations in Syria. The company, which is close to the French government, paid tens of millions of dollars to the two aforementioned organizations while working in Syria.

Observers denounced the approach of the two European companies, which proceeded to realize their profits without being indifferent to the violation of the embargo imposed by the European Union against the Syrian regime, and the suffering of the Syrian people, who tasted both at the hands of the Assad regime and its Russian ally, in addition to the rival terrorist organizations that caused the death, displacement and suffering of millions of people. Syrian.

EU sanctions

The European Union has imposed sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s regime since 2011, with the aim of putting pressure on the regime to find a lasting political solution to the Syrian crisis in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, issued in December 2015, urging all actors on the ground in Syria to: Cease-fire and a political settlement.

The EU sanctions list includes approximately 290 officials of the Assad regime, a number of businessmen who finance the regime, as well as 70 institutions and companies that have contributed to a decade of war, suffering and displacement of the Syrian people.

Sanctions imposed on the regime and its symbols include travel bans, restrictions on investment and oil imports, a freeze on the assets of the Central Bank of Syria in the European Union, and a restriction on the export of equipment and technology that may be used in internal repression or to monitor and intercept communications via the Internet or telephone.

Refueling of the Russian forces

Danish court documents, which accused Banker Holdings and its CEO Kelld Rosenbeck Dimant, and his company, Dan Bankring, of violating the embargo imposed by the European Union on the Syrian regime, showed that about 172 thousand tons of jet fuel worth about 647 million Danish krone ($101 million), which Danish companies sold in 33 batches to Russian companies between 2015 and 2017.

The Russian companies that were on behalf of the Russian Navy supplied jet fuel to the Syrian port of Banias for use by the Russian Air Force in Syria, causing "Bunker Holdings", one of the largest shipping and fuel supply companies in the world, to spill the blood of the Syrians and displace them.

Human rights organizations in Syria have documented thousands of incidents in which Russian forces have indiscriminately targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure, since Moscow’s intervention in the Syrian war in 2015.

The company and its director plead their innocence, arguing that they cannot control what their Russian customers do with the fuel, which was rejected by the court, arguing that they should have known "the great possibility that the Russian army will use jet fuel in Syria."

The court established that the two Russian companies involved had never requested aviation fuel from a Danish fuel giant prior to Russia's military operations in Syria in 2015, and the company's director, Demant, was aware that they were general agents of the Russian Navy.

French "Lafarge" and complicity with terrorism

The French cement giant "Lafarge" is facing accusations that it paid tens of millions of dollars to armed groups, including the terrorist organization ISIS and the PKK between 2013 and 2014, to ensure the continuation of work in its factories in Syria.

According to the records of the French judiciary, ISIS terrorist bought large quantities of cement from "Lafarge", and used it to build fortifications against the international coalition forces led by the United States of America. terrorist.

It is noteworthy that a documentary film produced by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), entitled "The Factory", shed light on the accusations against "Lafarge", through documents and eyewitnesses who indicated that the payment of these sums came in exchange for allowing the work of the French company, whose factory was 50 km away, to continue. kilometers south of the city of "Ain al-Arab" in Syria, pointing out that this was taking place with the knowledge of the French intelligence.

Reform of the Schengen Agreement How will it affect the future of those wishing to emigrate and tourism to Europe?

The European Commission has revealed its proposals to reform the Schengen Agreement regulating movement between its member states. A reform that comes after long demands from those countries, with France pledging to approve it during its presidency of the Union. The following changes affect the future of those wishing to emigrate and tourism to Europe.

The European Commission on Tuesday unveiled its proposals to amend and reform the rules of the Schengen Agreement governing freedom of movement between member states. Amendments come, according to the Commission’s statement, “due to the Corona virus and the migration crisis, including the imposition of temporary restrictions on movement at the external borders of the European Union in emergency cases.”

While for a long time European governments demanded these amendments, the crisis on the Polish borders came to move the stagnant file. The French president and his government also pledged that downloading the project would be one of the priorities of the country's presidency of the European Union early next year.

The proposal promises to enable member states to have flexible control of their borders, both external to the EU and internally between them. Which will increase new stresses on immigration seekers and foreign tourists to the old continent.

Commission proposes to amend the Schengen

In this regard, the Commission's statement added: "The targeted changes will lead to better coordination between member states, and enable them to have mechanisms to better deal with the challenges they face, whether on their external borders or internally among them." He justified this by its consistency with the European way of life, where 1.7 million citizens live in one country and work in another.

Commenting on the proposal, Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, highlighted that it comes to strengthen the European way of life. It also to speed up the response to the crises that threaten the European sphere, on top of which is the COVID-19, the terrorist threat and the waves of migration since 2015 to the Polish border crisis.

On the other hand, these amendments come down to the demands of a number of state parties. France also confirmed, upon assuming the presidency of the Union at the beginning of next January, that it would work to implement reforms to the rules of the Schengen Agreement and create homogeneity in the visa system among the countries of the European Union.

"Protecting our borders is a prerequisite for ensuring the security of Europeans, facing the challenges of migration and avoiding the tragedies we have lived," French President Emmanuel Macron said during a press conference last Wednesday. He pledged: "Under this presidency (the European Union) we will start reforming the Schengen area."

A reform he intends to download by adopting a “political guidance for the Schengen area” through regular meetings of European ministers in charge of these issues in order to “strengthen border checks” when necessary. This is with a “better organization in terms of migration management” with “a will to work with countries of origin and transit to combat human trafficking, avoid migration flows, protect our external borders and harmonize our rules (EU countries), especially with regard to asylum.”

Any impact on immigration and tourism in Europe?

The most important amendments proposed by the European Commission are the re-control of the internal European borders. The Commission intends to propose the return of border controls between European countries as a solution to the situation of irregular immigration, with a proposal for an 18-month period of testing this procedure, after which the Commission will intervene to decide whether or not it continues.

The reform project proposes to the member states to intensify the security control points in the border areas as an alternative measure to secure the borders. It also limit unauthorized movement within the Schengen area, through joint security operations carried out by the police of those countries in order to track and stop intruders between member states.

The reform of the Schengen area rules also introduces other amendments to the external borders, in line with its aim of tightening the screws on the internal European borders. It is also consistent with the draft new migration deal put forward by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September 2020.

The work of this new agreement can be summarized further in restricting the external border crossings of Europe, by focusing on documenting refugees, taking their fingerprints and subjecting them to medical examinations. In addition to accelerating the process of accepting asylum applications, and balancing them according to the principle of entitlement, with the provision of “a rapid mechanism to exclude migrants who are unlikely to obtain international protection, that is, those coming from countries with an asylum response rate of less than 20%, such as Tunisia and Morocco,” according to Vonn. Lane at the time.

On the other hand, the charter promotes the deportation mechanism as a solution for member states to deal with migrants, within the framework of what it calls “solidarity and compulsion” with the abolition of the “quota” principle in receiving migrants. That is, according to analysts, the EU will not impose a "quota" for receiving migrants, and those who do not want to accept them on its soil must finance their deportation and ensure their accommodation in asylum centers outside the European Union.