While in Warnemünde, I talked to a few Germans as well as a software engineer from Canada who had emigrated to Germany for a job. They either volunteered their opinion regarding immigrants or I asked for it. Here were some responses:
- We aren’t doing a good enough job at integrating them.
- I don’t see how integration is possible; they don’t want to be like us and we don’t want to be like them.
- It is ridiculous to take in people who aren’t allowed to work. Why do we take in refugees and then not give them work permits within two weeks? Of course we have to pay to house and feed them regardless of whether they work.
- Not too many of them settle here in North Germany. This is just a transit point to Denmark and Sweden where the welfare benefits are more generous.
- It is too many immigrants too fast. 2 million immigrants in a short time cannot be absorbed.
- Germans don’t like to admit that they made a mistake. They make a decision and just stick with it, regardless of evidence that it was the wrong decision. That’s what is happening with the decision to admit so many Syrians, most of whom are not actually Syrian despite what their papers may say.
The Germans with whom I spoke thought that their welfare state would have to be torn down if they were to continue accepting refugees. This would make Germany more like the U.S. back in the 19th century. Anyone could move to the U.S., but they wouldn’t get free housing, food, and health care. They also thought that German women would likely have to return to 19th century clothing to avoid coming into conflict with the imported traditional Arab and Islamic culture.
Regarding the EU, our guide told us that the governments of southern Europe were moving to the left while the governments of the north were becoming more conservative. This dovetailed with the German who said “A Spaniard, an Italian, and a Greek walk into a restaurant. Who pays the bill? German taxpayers.”
Traveled by VW Vanagon in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden this summer, and the towns with immigrants were quite noticeable, and we would remark on it when we saw them — headscarves and strollers were the first giveaway, bored looking young men the second. In Switzerland there were none in the interior towns that we visited, but quite a few in towns close to the French border. Most interesting comment was by a friend in Amsterdam who said that they had recently decided to spread the immigrants out so that they were no longer all living together as this was felt to help them to integrate more/faster. We didn’t see any obvious anti-immigrant sentiment where we traveled.
Separately, the level of stress (lower than US), outdoor living (many more people, cafes and restaurants spilling onto the sidewalks than in the US), and level of infrastructure, particularly public transportation (much much much higher than the US), was palpable. Much as I love San Francisco, cities in Holland like Amsterdam, Delft and Leiden, many cities on the German Rhine, and Gothenberg, Sweden where we spent a week attending my younger son’s soccer tournament (with 1,800 teams), made SF feel like a poor second cousin.
simple. Build the wall!
Would you guess there are many Canadians emigrating to Germany for work? Thanks.
Europe can’t absorb 2 million refugees, but expects the much smaller populations of Turkey and Lebanon to absorb 2 million each?
Michiel: I understood that the 2 million figure was for Germany alone, not for all of Europe. See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3691638/Germany-took-2million-people-year-equivalent-populations-Houston-Brisbane-Paris.html for some statistics.
Josh: are there many Canadians emigrating? I don’t think so if only because there aren’t many Canadians to begin with.
@phil: The article you link mentions immigrants, not refugees, and most of them are from EU countries.
Michiel: I was quoting a German. The person quoted used the term “immigrants” and therefore, if speaking about the new neighbors who arrived in Germany in 2015, the number is consistent with the the Daily Mail article. (Even if the number were not consistent, the quote would still be accurate as a reflection of that person’s thoughts at the time.)
@phil: The error I see in his thinking isn’t about the exact number of immigrants, but about the notion that Germany ever had a choice in admitting them. If Merkel had declared that refugees were unwelcome, these people would’ve still found their way into Germany, but would try to stay completely out of sight of law enforcement.