I suppose the following facts are not well known to Pen-lers in the English speaking parts of the world. Particularly not the connection between and cooperation of CSU and Fidesz. As far as I can see it has not been a topic in the English writing media until now. So I have to rely on a news clip from Hungary.
"Germany could not have gained control over the refugee situation if Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had not decided to close his country’s borders, Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer told the German all-news channel N24. “We will be thankful for what Orbán does”, he added. Mr. Seehofer, who is also leader of the conservative CSU, Bavaria’s governing party and the smaller member of the CDU-CSU party alliance which governs the country in a grand coalition with the Social Democrats, said that “Many will be thankful to Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, for what he is doing on his borders. I always ask the opposite question: what would happen if your borders would be open? We would have lost control over the situation long ago”, he told the all-news channel N24 in connection with the immigration crisis." http://hungarytoday.hu/news/bavarian-pm-seehofer-many-will-thankful-orban-borders-11083 Orban is due to visit his Bavarian sister party today. For a background story (9/23) see: http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article146735062/Die-unheimliche-Beziehung-der-CSU-zu-Orbans-Ungarn.html "Google" translates: "Orban straightened his party a little way off at the CSU. A dossier of the CSU-affiliated Hanns Seidel Foundation from 2011 states: "Orbán transformed Fidesz from a liberal to a conservative Popular Party and tried hard to get the membership of the European People's Party, whose vice-president he has been since 2002. Subsequently he moved his party further to right-conservative positions. Values such as family, faith in God and the nation moved to the fore." That sounds like a description of the CSU. Orbán became very popular in the CSU, as he changed the Hungarian constitution by adding the reference to God and the Christian tradition." ++++ On top of that (9/23): Violating asylum legislation German periodical "Die Welt" reported on Wednesday that the European Commission will be filing 40 infringement proceedings against 19 EU countries for violating EU asylum legislation. The countries, which include Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Hungary, for not having "adequately implemented" asylum procedures. Denmark, Ireland and the UK were reported to be exempt from the legal proceedings since they do not abide by EU asylum legislation. The violations include not maintaining the minimum standards for asylum procedures and inadequate reception of refugees. http://www.dw.com/en/refugee-controversy-heats-up-ahead-of-eu-emergency-summit/a-18731170 ++++ And for those of us who prefer hard facts this summary (9/23) might be insightful, even if one does not share the political conclusions of the study: Distribution of Refugees very uneven among EU member states - even when accounting for economic strength an total population The European Union is currently experiencing its largest influx of asylum seekers in years. Yet the distribution of these refugees across the member states is highly uneven: Large countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain, as well as the Eastern European countries (apart from Hungary), have received relatively few asylum seekers. Far more refugees are headed to Central Europe, Sweden, and the small countries on the outskirts of the EU (Malta, Cyprus, and Bulgaria). Germany is likewise receiving an above-average number of asylum seekers: Assuming a uniform distribution across all EU countries, Germany receives three times as many in relation to its total population, and twice as many in relation to its economic strength. And now, as some of the member states are beginning to enact more restrictive refugee policies, this geographic concentration of asylum seekers is expected to increase even more. There is therefore an urgent need for the EU Member States to agree on a more uniform—and thus more fair—distribution of the refugees. In Germany, 37 percent of asylum seekers were granted protection status upon completing the asylum procedure in the first seven months of 2015. According to available data, however, the integration of these refugees into the German labor market has presented numerous difficulties. The number of unemployed individuals - which was initially low - has increased among the members of the most frequently represented refugee nationalities. Among all Syrians living in Germany with a residence permit, for example, there are more unemployed individuals than there are social security-paying employed individuals. The ratio is only slightly better for people from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Eritrea. Accordingly, the proportion of Hartz IV benefits recipients among these groups is high. It is assumed that these problems are significantly mitigated the longer the recognized refugees remain in Germany and the greater command they have over the German language. The study of German should therefore be better supported. http://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.514188.de full pdf: http://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.514173.de/15-39-1.pdf _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
