Ukrainian crisis: Europe caught in the trap of fundamentalist right.
From the Second World War onwards, the continent of Europe became a destination for immigrants and asylum seekers in order to attract cheap labor and get rid of the risk of aging population.
Advanced industrialized countries normally need young immigrants for demographic and economic reasons because they maintain the continuity of the social security system and slow down the aging of the population. Therefore, despite the problems that the immigration phenomenon had created for European countries during these decades, it must be said that immigration helped many European countries to overcome the problem of population decline. Because there, due to the low fertility rate and the age structure of the elderly population, the death rate is higher than the birth rate.
According to the data of “Statista” statistical database in 2021, Europe was the leader in terms of the proportion of elderly population with 19%, followed by North America with 17%, Oceania with 13%, and Asia and South America with 9% each.
Meanwhile, Germany has the largest share in the elderly population of Europe with 17.78 million people, followed by Italy with 13.76 million people, France with 13.16 million people and England with 12.24 million people, respectively. are next.
But the acceptance of immigrants to solve the population and labor problem was one side of the coin, and the other side was related to the costs of accepting immigrants, including the growth of the extreme right movement; A problem that is more intertwined with the problems caused by the Ukraine crisis.
Ukraine crisis and Europe under pressure
Over the past decades, Europe has accommodated millions of immigrants and refugees from all over the world, especially the countries of the Middle East, which have been dragged into crisis by the intervention and warmongering of the West. brought to Europe.
The issue of immigration and asylum in Europe became more serious from February 2022 with the beginning of the Ukraine crisis. About three months ago, the European Border Agency (Frontex) reported an unprecedented increase in the number of illegal arrivals at the borders of the European Union over the past six years.
According to this report, the amount of illegal immigrants crossing the borders of the European Union during the first nine months of 2022 has increased by 70% compared to the same period last year and has reached its highest level since 2016.
Also, based on the latest statistics published by the United Nations Refugee Agency on November 29, 2022, each European country has had a share of hosting Ukrainian refugees. Meanwhile, Poland was in the first place with more than 1 million 500 thousand people, Germany was in the second place with more than one million people, and the Czech Republic was in the third place with 463 thousand people.
Ukrainian refugees and the voice of the extreme right foot
The flood of Ukrainian refugees and their coincidence with livelihood and energy problems in various European countries has raised the voice of protests. About two months ago, the Norwegian police arrested 35 people in a clash with neo-Nazi protesters on the street.
In the political field, we also see that the right-wing anti-immigrant slogans and their promises have attracted people to the extent that they have made significant progress in the elections and political processes.
