{snip}

Senior AfD figure and Euro MP Gunnar Beck said a strong election result would prove a useful weapon in his party’s battle against the European Union’s controversial proposed Pact on Migration and Asylum that looks to enlist its members in a centrally-run redistribution of asylum seekers across the bloc.

“I have myself been working on the EU migration pact for some time and for me the enactment of such a pact would be disastrous,” Beck told RT.com. “Because the EU not too long ago was talking about importing up to 70 million Africans into Europe by 2035. In my humble opinion this is not what we need to modernise our economy.

“And while the figure seems high, when the members of our migration pact campaign – including delegates from Denmark, Estonia, France and Belgium – met with the Commission just last year, that migration figure was brought up but no one at the Commission chose to deny it. “

That suggestion of actively encouraging inward migration to the EU has been floating around Brussels for a while, as governments across the bloc look at ways to address the phenomenon known as the ‘greying of Europe’ where ageing populations aged 65 or older and low birthrates pose ‘considerable social, economic and political challenges in countries such as Germany and Italy’ according to the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based think tank.

Meanwhile, the migration pact currently appears stuck in parliamentary committees, the received wisdom is that it’s being deliberately stalled until the outcome of the German federal elections is known in September.Some politicians, such as former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker believe an influx of younger workers from Africa is the solution.

Beck suggests an alternative reason for the unusual delay.

“It’s not gone through all the committees in the European Parliament and the negotiations of the Council [of Europe] haven’t started but I think the EU would like to push the legislation through from July onwards,” he said.

“Now that all the countries are phasing out the lockdown and people are generally feeling better about themselves and able to leave their homes again. So the possibility is that they’ll try to use the general feelgood atmosphere – summer combined with corona relaxations – to push ahead with this deeply dangerous legislative package,” Beck said.

And maybe Beck’s right. Because the European Parliament’s final plenary session is early July and then it doesn’t sit again until mid-September. If the pact proposals are put to MEPs in July and inevitably passed, there is plenty of time for it to lose its sting over the extended summer break. It will be just like it was there all the time.

{snip}