Michael Rubin writes at National Review Online about a key factor in the recent wave of European immigration that has attracted little attention to date.
The Syrian refugee crisis continues unabated. Millions have fled the country to refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, and millions more take enormous risks to reach refuge in Europe. In both the United States and Europe, the response to the refugee flow is often discussed in a humanitarian framework: The refugees should not be forced to return to Syria, where they would face torture, imprisonment, and death. …
… Lost in the discussion among policymakers is a key question: Why haven’t the refugees gone to the many countries closer to Syria and Iraq, in terms of language and geography, than Europe? There are several answers:
First, while Jordan and Lebanon have absorbed Syrian and Iraqi refugees, the oil-rich monarchies in the Persian Gulf have largely slammed the door shut against refugees. Unrestrained by European-style political correctness, these countries recognize that years of war and incitement have radicalized Syrians. They also recognize that the refugee influx would undermine the stability of their own lands, because few if any of the refugees will ever return to their homeland.
More important, however, they also understand that a large proportion of those fleeing to Europe, facing tragedy in the Aegean Sea, or occupying tent camps along various European borders aren’t actually fleeing war and violence. Southern Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan are largely stable and secure, but Iraqi Kurdistan faces economic hardship due to the perfect storm of falling oil prices and decades of worsening and unaddressed corruption. Kurds fleeing Erbil and Sulaymani seek prosperity more than security. A full 70 percent of all refugees arriving in Europe are males unaccompanied by their families. When war reaches towns and villages, families flee in their entirety; they don’t simply shed young males from their midst.
Nor should Europeans believe that migrants choose their continent because other countries have slammed the door on refugees. Rather, the refugees — or, perhaps more accurate, economic migrants — choose Europe because of Europe’s social safety net. Geoffrey Van Orden, a British member of the European Parliament and the vice chairman of the European conservatives and reformists group, noted at the Raisina Dialogue that the European Union accounts for just over 7 percent of the world’s population, 25 percent of its economy, and 50 percent of the world’s social-welfare spending.
Clearly, many of the refugees and migrants seek out Europe because of its welfare.
