site.bta Labour Minister: Problem with Migrants in Europe Lies Not in People But in Feeling That the Process Is Uncontrollable

Labour Minister: Problem with Migrants in Europe Lies Not in People But in Feeling That the Process Is Uncontrollable

Athens, November 6 (BTA) - The problem with migrants in Europe 
lies not in the number of people but in the creation of a 
feeling that the process is uncontrollable, which causes 
insecurity, Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivailo Kalfin said
  here Friday. He was speaking during a discussion on "Refugees
 and Migration: Social Policy. Dialogue between Neighbours" 
within the 11th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, organized by 
BTA and the Association of Bulgarian Media Abroad in Athens.

According to Kalfin, all questions - how long this process will
 continue, how many people will come, how will they be dealt
with  - will remain pending until a clear policy is seen. As
long as  this process is uncontrollable, there will be a feeling
 of  insecurity in European citizen, which can have a bad
influence  on EU integration, he said.

In his words, the problem with the refugee wave does not date 
back to the last several months - it has been underestimated for
  quite some time and no EU Member State can handle it on its 
own.

This wave of people entering Europe does not include only people
  running from a war. Here lies the first problem that should be
  solved in the EU: the list of countries from which refugees
are  to be accepted should be reconsidered, Kalfin argued. He 
outlined as another problem the fact that these people choose 
where to go - mostly Germany and Sweden. According to him, this
 right to choose should be regulated by a European policy.

In his words, the relocation by quotas is completely 
meaningless. "We cannot possibly talk about quotas when we 
cannot guarantee that these people will remain permanently in 
Bulgaria," he commented. The system for accepting refugees 
should also be changed because now it encourages a huge industry
  of traffickers, Kalfin went on to say. Bulgaria is one of the
 countries which does its job related to refugees, he added.

Daniela Gorceva, publisher of "Dialogue" magazine in the 
Netherlands, said that protection seekers in the EU totalled 
562,000 people in 2014, while their number exceeded 400,000 in 
the first half of 2015 alone. The biggest percentage of these 
people come from Syria, followed by Afghanistan, Eritrea and 
Kosovo, and nationals of Serbia and Albania are in the top 8.  
 

"The inciting and demonising of these people, who have or do not
  have the right to seek asylum, is a boomerang that will fall
on  our own heads. You cannot see them only as an enemy or 
terrorist and lose your humanity to such an extent that you stop
  seeing others' drama," she commented. 

It is the media that should establish a uniform social platform,
 which would allow co-habitation of people from different
societies, said Borislav Nikolov of the Ethnique Media Inc.
agency, Canada, before the participants in the panel "Media in
the World of Cultural Diversities".

"Whenever we talk about cultural diversities, it is always
similarities that emerge in my head," said Svetla Kyosseva of
the "Hemous" magazine, coming out in Hungary. People get to know
 each other through their similarities and, once they are
established, the differences are not so scary, Kyosseva noted.
"If there are any fears about the role of the media, they are
related to whether we would manage to handle our own fears
generating hostility and non-admission of diversities," she
commented. 

Anna Maria Petrova-Gyuzeleva of "Adria Film", Italy, noted that
the Bulgarian fire in the community is stoked by the people, who
 are there, care about their homeland, make efforts, so that
their children know their mother tongue. The state participation
 in initiatives focusing on Bulgaria should be more active, she
said.
  
"The love for Bulgaria and everything Bulgarian is what makes us
 stand out," said Dora Kostova, Editor-in-Chief of the "Roden
Krai" [Homeland] paper, Ukraine. In all Bulgarian homes the love
 for the country is huge and everything related to it is a
priority, said she.

Lyuba Rizova, member of the production team of the "Gospodari na
 Efira" [Masters of the Broadcasting Space] show on Nova TV
presented it before the participants. For the 13 years since its
 launching, the show has become a phenomenon, said she. A
programme, designed to entertain people, has achieved big
success in the society, Rizova commented. Between 100 and 300
e-mails and numerous reports on the hot line are received on a
daily basis, said Rizova adding that they concern mostly
bureaucratic problems, which people encounter. 

The 11th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media takes place with the 
support of CEZ Bulgaria, Coca-Cola Bulgaria, EKO Bulgaria, Mtel,
  Eurobank Ergasias, Postbank, Aurubis Bulgaria, Weiss Profil, 
and Sofia Med.