Vienna – ESI presentation on asylum, migration, and the future of Europe

Vienna. Photo: flickr/Franz Jachim

ESI's Gerald Knaus was invited to give a presentation on "Asylum, migration, and the future of Europe" at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies.

He argued that the debate about asylum and migration is dominated by hysteria and that human and majority solutions are possible: we need a common policy of affected countries based on three pillars: fast asylum procedures in reception centres in European Mediterranean countries, agreements on quick repatriation from these centres and voluntary distribution of recognized refugees. The point is that those who believe in human rights need to show concretely that there are alternatives to the status quo of recent years and to the hard slogans of populists. That "moral realism" for the protection of asylum law and border control can formulate a policy capable of winning majorities.

Earlier in the day, Gerald participated in a live radio show hosted by the public broadcaster Ö1 on sea rescues.

• Ö1, Punkt eins, "Wenn Rettungsschiffe liegen bleiben" ("When rescue ships get stuck") (11 December 2018)
• ESI proposal: The right refugee policy for Europe (Sanchez Plan) (11 August 2018)
• Gesine Schwan und Gerald Knaus, "Neue EU-Flüchtlingspolitik - Kontrolle und Empathie" ("New EU Refugee Policy - Control and Empathy") (28 June 2018)
• Refugees Deeply, John Dalhuisen Gerald Knaus, How Italy Can Combine Migration Control With Human Rights (13 March 2018)
• ESI paper: "Amsterdam in the Mediterranean" – How a Dutch-style asylum system can help resolve the Mediterranean refugee crisis (26 January 2018) – ​also available in Italian: "Amsterdam nel Mediterraneo"
• ESI proposals for the refugee crises in the Central Mediterranean and the Aegean: www.esiweb.org/refugees