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Exodus and influx
[DAWN] GERMANY'S far-right parties are planning a show of force this coming weekend in a small town called Goslar.They are irked by the fact that the town's mayor, Oliver Junk -- a member of Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... 's Christian Democrats elected in 2011 for an eight-year term by more than 90pc of the vote -- has declared he is keen on accommodating a lot more immigrants. Goslar is losing up to 2,000 residents a year, and Junk says: "We have plenty of housing, and rather than see it decay we could give new homes to immigrants, helping them, and so give our town a future." Goslar's predicament isn't unique, or even rare, across Europe. Apart from the continuing exodus from country towns to the city, the continent's birth rate has long been in decline, presaging economic concerns, not least on account of the growing imbalance between taxpayers and pensioners. Refugees fresh off the boat are obviously not taxpayers, but it's hardly unrealistic to weigh their potential in this respect, once they have settled down and obtained jobs. Employment is another crucial issue, of course, particularly in countries where austerity is the default position imposed by the European Community. And perhaps it isn't entirely a coincidence that the primary landing ports for refugees are mainly the more economically depressed southern European nations such as Italia, Greece and Spain. Posted by: Fred 2015-08-26 |
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