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European Commission
Chair: Aleksandar Vladicic
Director: Rafail Zoulis
European Commission PMUNC 2016
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Contents
Letter from the Chair…….………………………...……………………...…..3
Introduction……………………………….…….....……………..….…..……5 Topic A: The Migrant Crisis……………….…….....……………..….…..……6
Topic B: Terrorist Attacks in Europe……………….....………….…………...7
Topic C: Xenophobia and Brexit……...…………….....………….……….…..8
Positions……………………………...…………….....………….……...……9
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Letter from the Chair
Dear Delegates,
I’m very excited to welcome you to PMUNC 2016! My name is Aleksandar Vladicic
and I will be your chair for the European Council crisis committee. I’m a sophomore at
Princeton majoring in Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and am
especially interested in diplomacy, peacebuilding and integration, and the politics of
development.
This will be my fourth year of MUN and my second PMUNC. Last year at PMUNC,
I served as a director for the Napoleonic Wars crisis committee. Alongside me this year is
Rafail Zoulis who will be our crisis director for the European Council committee. I always
enjoy running crisis, but this committee will definitely be a very special experience as we will
be engaging in a discussion on a range of contemporary and challenging pressures the
European Union faces in the twenty-first century. As a committee, we will try to provide
solutions to both internal and external difficulties that shook Europe in the past couple of
years.
A sudden influx of refugees and migrants into the EU have exposed the
ineffectiveness of existing regulations and exhibits European divisiveness in the response to
an escalating crisis. Migration was gradually slowing down over the course of the past couple
of months, but what remains to be further addressed are the nature and length of the
granted asylums for the people who immigrated, the agreement on how to respond
effectively to migrant crisis on the national level, and how to cooperatively show support to
those who are forced to seek for a new home in the EU.
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During the migrant crisis, Europe witnessed rising power of populist parties,
increased presence of Euroscepticism and growing xenophobia across the continent. Several
countries expressed their concerns for the current state of affairs and advocated for stronger
cooperation and solidarity. However, in July 2016, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron
stepped down after the referendum when a majority of the UK citizens voted “leave”.
Rising number of terrorist attacks and shootings all over the world was repeatedly
mentioned in relation to the migrant crisis. As part of the migration policy, but on a general
defense and security platforms as well, the EU is determined to improve its commitment to
ensuring the security of its borders, and to creating strategies for providing immediate and
effective response to the attacks.
Current state of affairs might not seem very promising, but our committee of the
European Council will come together to address most importantly: dealing with migrants
and refugees, rising Euroscepticism, and the response to terrorist attacks in the EU!
I am very much looking forward to meeting you all this fall!
Aleksandar Vladicic
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Introduction
Welcome to the European Council (EC) crisis committee! The European Council is
an official institution of the European Union (EU) that comprises the heads of states of the
28 EU Member States (MS), the President of the European Commission, and the President
of the European Council. While the legislative power in the EU is entrusted to the European
Commission, the European Council defines the EU’s overall political direction and
priorities. The European Council functions by adopting conclusions which “identify specific
issues of concern and outline particular actions to take or goals to reach.”
At the Council meeting in 2014, the European Council set five priority areas to work
on over the next five years and those include: 1) jobs, growth and competitiveness, 2)
empowering and protecting citizens, 3) energy and climate policies, 4) freedom, security and
justice, 5) the EU as a strong global actor; and has determined specific goals to reach within
each category.1 To better understand how the EC conclusions look like, you may read or skim
through the Strategic agenda of the EU from 2014:
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%2079%202014%20INIT#page
=15
However, amid the turmoil of the recent terrorist attacks, a significant migrant crisis
and the British vote to exit the Union, the European Council might have to reconsider its
agenda and sort its priorities. Even though the European Council itself does not directly
function as a crisis-addressing body, we will try to consolidate from one hand, the diversity
in opinions, actions and experience each MS has on the numerous issues we will address and
on the other, the excitement of the MUN crisis and debate. This committee is called on
1 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/european-council/role-setting-eu-political-agenda/
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behalf of the current President of the EU Donald Tusk who will chair the meeting in Justus
Lipsius building in Brussels on July 15, 2016, just after Theresa May was announced the next
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
We will be briefly covering the important topics for this committee. However, we
encourage you to peruse current events in order to have the best idea for the daily goings-on
of Europe. The focus of this committee is primarily on migrants and their many facets – the
economic considerations, the security ones and even the political ones. We will also devote
much of our attention to understanding the background of the leaders assembled, their
domestic situations and hope to illustrate the positions and beliefs they would bring to the
table for a variety of issues. In this way, we hope you gain a deeper understanding of motives
of the actors, rather than attempting to explain the inexhaustible list of issues plaguing
Europe today.
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The Migrant Crisis
“According to Eurostat, EU MS received over 1.2 million first time asylum
applications in 2015, a number more than double that of the previous year.2 Four states
(Germany, Hungary, Sweden, and Austria) received around two-thirds of the EU's asylum
applications in 2015, with Hungary, Sweden, and Austria being the top recipients of asylum
applications per capita.3 The main countries of citizenship of asylum seekers, accounting for
more than half of the total, were Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.”4 An issue of concern from the
very beginning of the crisis was where exactly within the borders of the EU the refugees will
settle once they cross the border of one of the MS.
Laws
There are two agreements most relevant to the issue at hand. The first is the
Schengen Agreement which abolishes the border checks internally between the 26
signatories.5 In the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks, nationalists raise it as an example of
a failed European policy, pointing to how terrorists can easily move across borders to attack
another country.6 In recent months, border controls have become more stringent in the
Schengen Zone, and checks within the Schengen border have also become more common.7
The second relevant agreement is the Lisbon Treaty, which established a uniform policy for
asylum in the European Union, as well as greatly strengthening the EU’s power to regulate
2 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7203832/3-04032016-AP-EN.pdf/790eba01-381c-4163-bcd2-a54959b99ed6 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13194723 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid.
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immigration.8 With its expanded mandate, the EU’s decisions can no longer be vetoed by
individual member states, and can decide the rights of migrants within the EU including the
right to enter and exit.9 These changes have led to the Dublin III Regulation.
Dublin III gives member states the ability to send a migrant refugee back to the first
country the refugee entered.10 However, what this does is put an extra burden on border
countries where migrants are most likely to enter. A Syrian refugee that first enters Europe
through Hungary, is fingerprinted there, but makes it to Norway eventually can be sent back
to Hungary by the Norwegian government. A plan to have a relocation ‘quota’ where a plan
to share the 160,000 or so asylum seekers has thus far proved to see little progress; only
4,200 spots have volunteered.
On 24 August 2015, according to article 17 of the Dublin III Regulations, Germany
decided to suspend the Dublin procedure as regards Syrian refugees and to process their
asylum applications directly itself.11 However, some countries were reluctant to welcome the
refugees and started calling on the Agreement, comparing the numbers of refugees granted
asylum to other MS, or building walls and fences in order to disable the refugees from
crossing their national border. This council will address the pressing need to redefine the
current policy by maximizing the benefits to the EU as a whole, without harming the basic
human rights of the refugees or the national interests of specific MS.
8 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.12.2.html 9 Ibid. 10 https://www.ft.com/content/d08dc262-bed1-11e5-9fdb-87b8d15baec2 11 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-opens-its-gates-berlin-says-all-syrian-asylum-seekers-are-welcome-to-remain-as-britain-is-10470062.html
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Economic Consequences
There is certainly a mixed narrative when it comes to refugees’ economic impact on
Europe. Studies show that immigration only have a small impact on wages; unskilled
workers are most vulnerable but there is only about a 2% depression in wages for menial
positions for a 10% rise in share of migrant workers.12 Such numbers should suggest that
there is not much to fret. Indeed, there is also research by Foged and Peri that shows that
these migrant workers eventually move up, switching to jobs with higher salaries that involve
less manual labor.13 Such evidence would show that there are positive effects to migration
and that these migrants are rather hard working.
However, other research shows that migrants will receive more in benefits than they
pay in taxes for the first 15-20 years.14 Therefore, it is not a short run benefit to national
budgets. Despite all that though, the IMF estimates that refugees will add only 0.19% of
GDP to public expenditure in the EU; in Germany, who has received far more refugees, this
number is only 0.35%.15 Therefore, the macroscopic impact seems to be bearable.
There is, however, a divergence when it comes to popular opinion. 82% of those in
Hungary said that refugees are a burden due to taking of jobs and benefits; 75% of those in
Poland and 72% of those in Greece suggested the same.16 Countries that see fewer migrants,
like the Netherlands, have commensurately lower beliefs of refugees’ burdensomeness; still
this number is in the 40%’s.17 Germany, however, is a notable exception in that it bears a
large refugee burden, but its population only has only 31% of the population believe this, the
12 http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21688938-europes-new-arrivals-will-probably-dent-public-finances-not-wages-good-or 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/07/11/europeans-fear-wave-of-refugees-will-mean-more-terrorism-fewer-jobs/ 17 Ibid.
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lowest in the survey.18 These high numbers suggest that there is a backlash against migrants,
and those near the border are increasingly unwilling to have more visitors.
Terrorism
A series of recent terrorist attacks in the EU got people from all of the MS worried
about their safety and protection. The bombings in Brussels in March 2016 brought 32
deaths and wounded more than 300 other victims in a day of horror.19 Two suicide
bombings occurred at Brussels Airport and another bombing at a Metro station happened in
succession.20 A series of terrifying attacks in Paris killed 130 victims and injured hundreds of
others.21 Gunmen and bombers hit a concert hall, a stadium, and other entertainment venues
like bars and restaurants just moments apart in three coordinated teams.22 “1077 people were
arrested in the EU for terrorism-related offences last year alone, almost half of which took
place in France (424).”23
Concerns about the terrorist attacks from all over France, Belgium and the rest of
the MS appear to be related to the migrant crisis and the rising number of Muslims in
Europe. Many, including Germans, condemned Merkel’s migrant-welcoming policies for
being responsible for the rising threat and insecurity on the continent.24 In Hungary, 76% of
18 Ibid. 19 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35869985 20 Ibid. 21 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34818994 22 Ibid. 23 http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/terrorist-attacks-in-europe-this-is-how-dangerous-it-has-become/news-story/6698f619b28445b9da4ebd763b27e115 24 http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/695580/Angela-Merkel-open-door-Poland-Germans-migrant-crisis-Europe-dead-Jacek-Wrona
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those polled by Pew said that refugees increased the likelihood of terrorism; in Poland it is
71%; across Europe, the median was 59%.25
Such insecurity and fear only aggravate current economic hardships that the EU
faces, especially in the fields of trade and tourism. Reuters further reported that an increasing
number of people from the EU MS are turning to firearms and other self-defense weapons
to protect themselves. It is on us to create a responsive and thorough agenda which will
answer the needs of the people of the MS, make sure our response to any future threats or
attacks is adequate and functional, and make people feel more secure in their respective
states.
Xenophobia
Especially after the migrant crisis and terrorist attacks in the EU, a rising number of right-
wing parties and ideas has spread across the continent, usually opposing the current governments and
offering more radical solutions to the issues Europe faces at this time. Those parties and ideas
sometimes directly or indirectly oppose the welcoming attitude of some Europeans toward Muslim
immigrants and are targeting and stigmatizing Muslims and their religion. "There is an especial
problem with some of the people who’ve come here and who are of the Muslim religion who don’t
want to become part of our culture," said the leader of the UK Independence party and one of the
key figures who advocated for Brexit Nigel Farage in an interview from 2015.26 What exactly led to
the UK voting to leave the EU on the referendum is still debatable, but the “Leave” campaign
“effectively stoked fears of an immigrant influx to garner support, and the baiting of refugees was
25 http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/07/11/europeans-fear-wave-of-refugees-will-mean-more-terrorism-fewer-jobs/ 26 http://www.vox.com/2016/6/23/12005814/brexit-eu-referendum-immigrants
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further fanned by concerns about terrorism, the influential eurosceptic press and by the far-right,
which attributed Britain’s economic problems to immigration”, reported the NY Times.27
Such xenophobia and the lack of tolerance are opposed to the primary human rights values,
and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi stressed that those who don't talk
about the benefits of immigration but instead "stir up public opinion against refugees and migrants
have a responsibility in creating a climate of xenophobia that is very worrying in today's Europe.28
How will the Union proceed without the UK and how is this secession going to take place at first?
Will the EU let the rising xenophobia take over the whole continent and how will this body respond
to it?
27 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/world/europe/as-migrants-face-abuse-fear-that-brexit-has-
given-license-to-xenophobia.html?_r=0 28 https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/‘climate-xenophobia’-grips-europe-world-refugee-day
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Positions
Disclaimer: As the delegates serve as the leaders of EU Member States, they are responsible of
and have power over their respective governments, that includes the security forces, national
security and immigration policy, and legislature. This power, however, could prove both
beneficial and detrimental, since the decision of its individual state will have an impact and
finally shape the overall discussion on the European Union level.
Jean-Claude Juncker – President of the European Union:
Jean Claude Juncker, a Luxembourgish politician, is the President of the European
Commission. After serving as Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1989 until 2009, Mr.
Junker became the candidate of the European’s People Party (EPP), the center-right and
biggest party in the European Parliament, for the EU’s top job and succeeded in securing the
position in 2014. His appointment, however, did not lack controversy. President Junker
believes fervently in the Schengen free movement area and in federalism, the idea that the
EU should become a stronger Union via the transfer of powers from national parliaments to
European institutions. This stance has consistently caused some problems with certain
Member States, like Great Britain and Hungary, and his critics say that his actions directly
impacted Brexit. Moreover, the President of the Commission has taken a firm stance against
the rise of far-right parties in many European Member States. Nevertheless, Mr. Junker has
friends and power in the EU, especially with his hold over the European Commission, the
executive branch of the Union.
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Angela Merkel – Chancellor of Germany:
Angela Dorothea Merkel, a former research scientist, serves as the Chancellor of
Germany. After securing the leadership of her center-right party, the Christian Democratic
Union (CDU), Merkel became the Chancellor in 2005, a position she still holds.
Undoubtedly, she played a crucial role in overcoming the European Debt Crisis with her
continuous calls for austerity and public funding cuts. This stance, however, has caused her
unpopularity and distrust for Germany in the European South, which faces unemployment
and big government deficits. The Chancellor, also faces considerable criticism from groups
in Germany, especially concerning her “open-door” policy towards the growing number of
Syrian refugees. Despite stricter measures put in place after the New Year’s Eve sexual
assaults in Cologne, her critics say that Merkel’s leniency towards refugees and her belief in a
common European solution, as evident by the deal with Turkey, exacerbate the crisis.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the de facto leader of the European Union, as many
calls her, has always in mind the 2017 federal elections in Germany and the rise of the far-
right party Alternative Fur Deutschland (AfD).
François Hollande – President of France:
François Hollande, a former advisor to the legendary President Mitterrand, serves as the
President of the French Republic. He heads the French center-left party, the Socialist Party,
and became President in 2012. He supports moderate economic reforms across Europe and
has consistently maintained a strong position in favor of the unity of the Union and the
Eurozone. Moreover, Hollande faces increasing problems in France: The large minority of
Muslims, which resists to assimilation, alongside with the so-called “Calais Jungle” are seen
by many as the source of unemployment and crime as well as a corrupting force against the
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fervent secularism of the French state, which is one of the few countries in Europe that have
banned face-covering veils, such as the niquab, in all public areas. The French president had
also to grabble with a large amount of terrorist attacks in the past two years, with the biggest
being the attack on Charlie Hebdo (January 2015) and in Paris (November 2015). These two
factors have also caused the dramatic rise of the far-right National Front of Marie Le Pen,
who calls for referendum on France’s position in the European Union after the Brexit result.
Matteo Renzi - Prime Minister of Italy:
Matteo Renzi serves as the Prime Minister of Italy. He is the leader of the Democratic
Party, Italy’s main center-left party, and became Prime Minister in 2014. Immensely popular
in Italy, Renzi has called for an end in austerity and has consistently supported the resolution
of problems with common European solutions. Italy’s Prime Minister, however, faces
considerable pressure from the growing number of refugees and immigrants coming by see
from North Africa and especially from Libya, after the country was left in political turmoil
due to the Libyan Civil War and the emergence of Islamic terrorist groups in the region.
Renzi has gone to considerable lengths in both preventing the refugees from living Africa as
well as avoiding a humanitarian catastrophe, such as the 2013 Lampedusa shipwreck, when
more than 360 refugees died. He is also one of the main advocates for the mandatory quotas
for refugees around the EU. Finally, the Italian Prime Minister is concerned by the
tremendous rise of the far-right party, Lega Nord, which has a Eurosceptic agenda and calls
for stricter measures against immigration from the Muslim countries, so as to safeguard the
“Christian identity” of Italy and Europe.
Theresa May – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom:
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Theresa May, the former Home Secretary, serves as the Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom. Following Great Britain’s momentous decision to leave the European Union in
the 2016 June referendum and David Cameron’s commitment to step down from his role as
PM, May won a short race for the leadership of the Conservative Party, the UK’s center-
right party, and subsequently her country’s top job. While her broader political views are
large unknown, she vowed to respect the people’s Brexit vote, but she has not announced
any specific timeline. Taking into account that immigration played a large role in the
referendum decision, political analysts expect that May will be strict on immigration and
safety. She has also to deal with the emergence of far-right voices in her own party as well as
other far-right political entities, such as the Ukip of Nigel Farage and the xenophobic Britain
First party. Moreover, many in the UK call to her to confront the rising anti-immigrant racist
incidents that followed the referendum as well as the heal the wounds from the long
campaign.
Charles Michel – Prime Minister of Belgium:
Charles Michel serves as the Prime Minister of Belgium. Michel, a member of the
conservative-liberal Reformist Movement, leads a four party governmental coalition since
2014. His center-right coalition has promoted austerity measures in order to enhance the
economy’s competitiveness. The biggest concern, however, is the constant terrorist threat
over the country. After the 2016 Brussels’ bombings, in which 32 civilians died and 300 were
injured, many political analysist pint-point Belgium’s inadequate security system especially
due to lack of communication among the different-language-speaking parts of the country.
As a result, Michel is expected to call for stricter security checks for incoming refugees as
well as strengthening the European security mechanism.
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Christian Kern – Chancellor of Austria:
Christian Kern serves as the Chancellor of Austria. He leads the Social Democratic
Party, Austrian center-left party, and was sworn Chancellor on 17 May 2016. Having served
as the CEO of the Austrian Federal Railways, when he organized the transfer of thousand
refugees through the “Balkan Route” from Austria to Germany, Kern is familiar with the
incoming numbers of refugees. His government have vowed to continue a humane
treatment of refugees by safeguarding their rights and organizing integration programs, while
maintaining security and order. He is also thought to be a close ally and friend of Angela
Merkel, the German Chancellor, with whom he agrees on the protection of the Schengen
free travel area as well as the calls for European cooperation.
Viktor Orbán – Prime Minister of Hungary:
Viktor Orbán serves as the Prime Minister of Hungary. After becoming the leader of the
center-right Fidezs Party, Orbán won the parliamentary elections in both 2009 and 2014.
Under his leadership, his party and the country as a whole shifted from traditional liberalism
to conservativism, protectionism and soft Euroscepticism. He is famous for desiring to
construct an “illiberal state” as well as a strong national identity, in which the community
rather the individual is the basic social unit. Following these views, Orbán personally
opposes any obligatory quotas for refugees imposed by the EU and has taken a firm stance
on security by building fences on Hungary’s southern borders. The severity and intensity of
his anti-immigration measures have been widely criticized by both Hungarian and European
officials, with some NGOs calling him “authoritarian” and “dictator”. Moreover, his
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government supports closer cooperation in matters of security, as expressed by sending
police officers to aid FYROM’s police in its border with Greece.
Beata Szydlo – Prime Minister of Poland:
Beata Szydlo serves as the Prime Minister of Poland. After helping her party secure the
country’s presidency, Szydlo become Prime Minister in 2015. She is the vice-chair of the Law
and Justice Party, the right-wing national-conservative party of Poland. She leads a pro-
business agenda with strong views on social cohesion and national sovereignty. Similar to the
leaders of the other Visegrád countries, Szydlo opposes any settlement and reallocation of
refugees inside Polish borders as well as any attempts for a more federal European Union.
Moreover, Szydlo’s government has been a close ally to the United Kingdom in the EU.
Notable, her party’s European parliamentarians sit together with their UK conservative
colleagues in the Union’s Parliament. Thus, analysts predict that they will try to maintain a
close association with the UK even after Brexit while forming with them a common agenda
on security and immigration.
Alexis Tsipras – Prime Minister of Greece:
Alexis Tsipras serves as the Prime Minister of Greece. After winning two parliamentary
elections and an anti-austerity referendum in 2015, Tsipras leads the far-left Syriza party and
Greece through tough economic times. Being the gateway into Europe, Greece has
experienced an increasing amount of refugees crossing from the shores of Turkey to its
island in make shifts boats. While his government tries to accommodate the situation, the
number of immigrants trapped inside Greece’s borders has surpassed the 50,000. In order to
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mitigate the crisis, Tsipras has continuously called for a European solution through the
obligatory quotas system and asked the help of NATO and FRONTEX to help securing the
borders. Critics of Greece’s Prime Minister say that he has failed to secure the sea borders as
well as correctly process the incoming refugees with background checks so as to safeguard
the security of the Member States. Fortunately, in the past few months, the deal with Turkey
has stopped the mass flows but the situation remains precarious in an increasingly unstable
region.
Dalia Grybauskaitė – President of Lithuania:
Dalia Grybauskaitė serves as the president of Lithuania. Being the first female President
and the only President to be reelected for a second term, Grybauskaitė holds the position
since 2009. Due to her time as a European Commissioner for Financial Programming and
the Budget (2004-2009), Lithuania’s President is well-versed and connected with the political
apparatus in the European Union. She is also a firm proponent of the the new Member
States in the Union and, in face a growing aggression from Russia, she supports closer
European ties when it comes to security and border protection. Grybauskaitė, however, is
always concerned with the formation of a national civic identity for her citizens and thus
holds moderate views on immigration.
Mariano Rajoy – Prime Minister of Spain:
Mariano Rajoy serves as the Prime Minister of Spain. After becoming the leader of the
center-right People’s Party, Rajoy won the elections in 2011, in a time of financial and social
upheaval for Spain. However, since the 2015 elections and the inability of any party to form
a government, Rajoy maintains the post as a caretaker Prime Minister. Having faced a great
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amount of immigrants coming from Africa, he is a strong proponent of the idea that
immigration is a European rather than a national problem and thus EU-wide solutions
should be found. Moreover, Rajoy was a prominent political figure in the 2004 Al-Qaeda
affiliated bombings in Madrid and thus supports stronger European cooperation for border
protection and screenings.
Lars Løkke Rasmussen – Prime Minister of Denmark:
Lars Løkke Rasmussen serves as the Danish Prime Minister. After winning the June
2015 elections, Rasmussen returned to the top job of his country as the candidate of the
center-right liberal Vestre party. Despite the generally quite political life, the Prime Minister
is under heavy criticism due to the increasing amount of asylum seekers since 2010.
Moreover, Denmark is located between the two most popular destinations for refugees,
Germany and Sweden, and thus serves as the natural path between the two. This situation
has prompted, Rasmussen, who is in a coalition government with far-right Danish People’s
Party, to take severe measure against immigration. Most notably, he has ordered the
authorities to confiscate any asset the immigrants carry above $ 1,450 in order to pay for
their accommodation, while his policies focus more on repatriation rather than assimilation.
Stefan Löfven – Prime Minister of Sweden:
Stefan Löfven serves as the Swedish Prime Minister. After becoming the leader of the
center-left Social Democrats in 2012, Löfven leads a minority government with the Greens
since 2014. He is a firm supporter of a European solution in the immigration crisis and he
fervently maintains pro-immigration policies in Sweden. Most notably, he simplified the
procedures for temporary residence permit as well as family reunifications, while he forced
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by law the provinces of Sweden to accept quotas of refuges. However, after the Paris attacks
in November 2015, Löfven’s decision to reinstitute border controls in the Danish-Swedish
border sparked controversy since it called into question both the Schengen and the Nordic
Passport Union. Nevertheless, the Swedish Prime Minister remains one of the most fervent
supporters of immigration and closer European cooperation.
Enda Kenny – Taoiseach of Ireland:
Enda Kenny serves as the Irish Taoiseach. He is the leader of the liberal-conservative
Fine Gael party since 2002 and Taoiseach since 2011. He has consistently voiced a
supportive attitude towards refugees and has measures to ensure that a number of them
would be relocated on Irish soil. However, after the chain of the terrorist attacks in Europe,
Kenny has called for the European Union and the states in its periphery to strengthen
border controls and background checks to the incoming refugees. Moreover, the recent vote
of the United Kingdom to leave the EU has sparked great concern in the Irish government
regarding the Irish-British border and the possible reposition of border controls in a region
that has seen considerable violence up until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
Nicos Anastasiades – President of Cyprus:
Nicos Anastasiades serves of the Cyprian President. After serving the center-right
Democratic rally, Anastasiades become President in 2013. While coping with the difficult
financial situation, the Cyprian President has revived serious negotiations for the unification
of the island that remains split since the Turkish invasion of 1974. Moreover, Anastasiades is
a firm supporter of European solution in matters of both immigration and security, while he
maintains a close diplomatic relation with the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras.
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Furthermore, Anastasiades continues to have a reluctant view regarding the EU-Turkey
refugee agreement and believes that the Cyprus Dispute should be resolved before any
serious EU annexation talks for Turkey could begin.
Bohuslav Sobotka – Prime Minister of the Czech Republic:
Bohuslav Sobotka serves as the Czech Prime Minister. After becoming the leader of the
center-left Social Democratic Party in 2010, Sobotka become Prime Minister in 2014.
Amidst the heightening of the refugee crisis, Sobotka’s government supported European
cooperation in both the immigration crisis and border security. However, Sobotka fervently
refused the imposition of obligatory quotas for refugees around Europe, arguing instead that
the best solution should be providing relief in camps and hot-spots that are close to their
original residence, be that in Turkey or in the EU Member States. He also has to face
increasing far-right sentiments expressed by a number of organizations, such as the Anti-
Islamic Bloc, that in 2015 protested in the streets of Prague carrying gallows and nooses.
