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IMMIGRATION

Paris attacks intensify EU migrant debate

The Paris attacks and the discovery of a Syrian passport near one of the assailant's bodies have revived the European debate on whether to take a harder line on migrants.

Paris attacks intensify EU migrant debate
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

With the continent facing its biggest migration crisis since World War II, EU states have bickered for months on how to stem the flow and share out the new arrivals.

There have been steady calls from the right – and more emerged Sunday – for nations to be wary of the wave of people fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

“Not every refugee is an Islamic State terrorist. But to believe that there is not a single fighter among the refugees is naive,” Markus Soeder, a politician with the conservative Bavarian party CSU told the German press on Sunday.

“Paris changed everything” and “this is no time for uncontrolled immigration,” said Soeder, whose party has been critical of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's accommodating stance on refugees.

Yet on Sunday European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker defended the line that “there is no need for an overall review of the European policy on refugees.”

The men made their comments days after a team of assailants launched coordinated attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, in the French capital that killed at least 129 people.

The discovery of a Syrian passport near the body of one attacker has raised fears that some of the assailants might have entered Europe as part of the huge influx of people fleeing Syria's civil war.

Greek and Serbian authorities have confirmed the passport belonged to a man who registered as a refugee in October on the island of Leros and applied for asylum in Serbia a few days later.

'It's a fairy tale'

Poland's incoming European Affairs Minister Konrad Szymanski said Saturday that Warsaw no longer considered an EU plan to redistribute refugees across Europe as a “political possibility” in light of the Paris attacks.

Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders weighed in on Twitter Sunday, writing “(Prime Minister Mark) Rutte will you listen at last: Close the borders!”

PEGIDA, the German Islamophobic movement, has predicted that attacks in Germany are inescapable “if we don't stop the avalanche of asylum seekers, if we do not properly secure our borders.” 

More than 800,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year, mostly from the Middle East, with Germany alone expecting nearly a million migrants in 2015.

Other voices have called for calmer thinking. Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, has warned against any “swift links” between the Paris attacks and Europe's migrant crisis.

“Those who organized, who perpetrated the attacks are the very same people who the refugees are fleeing and not the opposite,” said Juncker. “Those behind the attacks in Paris cannot be put on equal footing with refugees who are seeking asylum,” he said.

A source inside Juncker's entourage noted that his words do not mean there is flexibility to even partially review the 28-nation bloc's stance on refugees.

The Netherlands' Foreign Affairs Minister Bert Koenders noted that “closing the borders creates the illusion that we are safe. It's a fairy tale that does not help anyone.”

“We must not be naive. We have to check migrants so that we know who we are dealing with, but we need to be very careful when linking causes and effects,” he added.

“I understand this fear, and we cannot completely rule out” the presence of jihadists among the migrants, but “we are dealing with terrorism that took place both before and after the wave of migration,” Koenders said.

In Croatia, which has become the main Balkan country of transit for migrants, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic reminded that “closing (borders) and barbed wire does not prevent these kind of tragedies.”

PARIS

Fluffy nuisance: Outcry as Paris sends Invalides rabbits into exile

Efforts to relocate wild rabbits that are a common sight on the lawns of the historic Invalides memorial complex have provoked criticism from animal rights groups.

Fluffy nuisance: Outcry as Paris sends Invalides rabbits into exile

Tourists and Parisians have long been accustomed to the sight of wild rabbits frolicking around the lawns of Les Invalides, one of the French capital’s great landmarks.

But efforts are underway to relocate the fluffy animals, accused of damaging the gardens and drains around the giant edifice that houses Napoleon’s tomb, authorities said.

Police said that several dozen bunnies had been captured since late January and relocated to the private estate of Breau in the Seine-et-Marne region outside Paris, a move that has prompted an outcry from animal rights activists.

“Two operations have taken place since 25 January,” the police prefecture told AFP.

“Twenty-four healthy rabbits were captured on each occasion and released after vaccination” in Seine-et-Marne, the prefecture said.

Six more operations are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.

Around 300 wild rabbits live around Les Invalides, according to estimates.

“The overpopulation on the site is leading to deteriorating living conditions and health risks,” the prefecture said.

Authorities estimate the cost of restoring the site, which has been damaged by the proliferation of underground galleries and the deterioration of gardens, pipes and flora, at €366,000.

Animal rights groups denounced the operation.

The Paris Animaux Zoopolis group said the rabbits were being subjected to “intense stress” or could be killed “under the guise of relocation”.

“A number of rabbits will die during capture and potentially during transport,” said the group, accusing authorities of being “opaque” about their methods.

The animal rights group also noted that Breau was home to the headquarters of the Seine-et-Marne hunting federation.

The police prefecture insisted that the animals would not be hunted.

In 2021, authorities classified the rabbits living in Paris as a nuisance but the order was reversed following an outcry from animal groups who have been pushing for a peaceful cohabitation with the animals.

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