20th December, 2017
Migration crisis is a time bomb, planted under the EU, which is undermining the bloc’s standard of living, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the union Vladimir Chizhov said.
Chizhov told Sputnik: “the very problem of migration is a time bomb with a rather short fuse, planted under the European Union.
“The EU itself participated in the creation of this bomb,” Chizhov said, adding that the situation is becoming increasingly tense with each passing month.
“Of course, the migration crisis will not lead to the collapse of the European Union or to member states leaving the European Union because of this problem.
“Life for the Europeans will not get easier.”
The diplomat recalled that he had heard the European Union was called “a superpower of the way of life.”
“What attracts migrants to the European Union is the way of life and, consequently, the standard of living. Well, the migration crisis is undermining the way of living and the standard of life in the European Union,” Chizhov added.
The EU member states have been experiencing an acute migration crisis since 2015 due to influx of thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing violence in their home countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
In September 2015, the bloc agreed on a plan to relocate migrants and refugees coming to Italy and Greece among the member states on a quota basis to help these two countries ease their burden.
The system of mandatory relocation quotas has deeply divided the EU, with the Visegrad group states, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, rejecting the quotas and criticizing the open door policy promoted by Brussels.
EU Council President Donald Tusk said on Dec. 15 that it was going to be very hard to reach a compromise on EU migration reforms amid the disagreements over refugee mandatory quotas.