If Europe wants to prevent radicalisation, it needs to accept migrants only in numbers that it can actually absorb, Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak told a conference on radicalisation in Brussels on Wednesday.
Kalinak pointed out that up to 4,000 EU citizens went off to Iraq and Syria to fight in the ranks of the so-called Islamic State and many of them are second or third-generation descendants of migrants who once came to Europe. These have failed to integrate, and they represent a younger generation that has never accepted European values, said Kalinak.
"Those coming to Europe as part of a migration wave have their hopes and dreams. If their dream is shattered, it might be replaced by frustration and they might start to radicalise," said Kalinak, who advocates the notion that Slovakia should accept only migrants interested in integrating into Slovak society.
"Asylum does not mean across-the-board aid, that's incorrect," said Kalinak, adding that asylum is given only to individuals who fear for their lives. The minister pointed out that Slovakia has extended such aid to 1,000 migrants since 2008, thus saving their lives. These asylum-seekers have embraced Slovak values and have successfully integrated themselves into society.
Kalinak believes that the issue of tens of thousands of migrants already on EU soil should be addressed through "effective solidarity", a concept championed by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico as an alternative solution to mandatory migrant resettlement quotas.
The Slovak Interior Minister claimed that neither mandatory nor voluntary quotas are working, citing Portugal as an example. The country has offered to accommodate 10,000 migrants, yet they are not interested in coming to Portugal, preferring instead countries with already established communities of migrants.
Migration problems and the rise of radicalism can be attributed to the destabilisation of states and military conflicts, Kalinak said, adding that the West should draw a lesson from recent history. "If we contemplate or support military intervention in another state, we should talk to communities of expats from those states living in the EU, so that they understand our decisions and we prevent problems seen today in Libya and Syria," Kalinak concluded.
