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Norway Gets Pressure from EU to Take in African Migrants

<p class&equals;"MsoNormal" style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;" align&equals;"center">While European Union countries have been forced to take in thousands of migrants fleeing from different sections of the world in violent turmoil&comma; Norway&comma; which isn&rsquo&semi;t part of the EU&comma; is getting pressured to do the same&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Immigration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos wrote a letter to the Norwegian Immigration Minister&nbsp&semi;Sylvi Listhaug demanding that the country take in more migrants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The United Nations refugee agency&comma; the UNHCR&comma; had recently reached out to the EU to help deal with the 40&comma;000 migrants that have fled from Africa&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&ldquo&semi;In the letter&comma; I asked them to be as ambitious as possible&comma; and I specifically asked them to increase efforts to accept quota refugees from North Africa and the Horn of Africa&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Avramopoulos about the letter sent to Norway and other EU member states&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Earlier in March&comma; Avramopoulos made a ridiculous claim that the EU will need to accept six million migrants in the near future&comma; without giving a reason why&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The EU has launched a new initiative to help Africans escape to Europe easier by picking up the migrants directly from Africa&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Leading the way is Germany&comma; which has negotiated with Egypt to set up a migrant reception center in North Africa where migrants will be screened for asylum status&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The French government is also currently trying to set up similar centers in African countries&comma; like Libya&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">It is likely countries like Poland and Hungary will not take redistributed migrants like the countries have refused to in the past&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The Hungarian and Slovak governments have attempted to appeal the redistribution agreement citing that it did not receive the consent of all member states&comma; but the European Court of Justice &lpar;ECJ&rpar; rejected it earlier this month&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">While these countries have struggled with the strict regulations of the EU&comma; Norway proves that a country can be successful without being in the EU&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The country is the fifth richest country in the world per capita&comma; with the average salary being almost double the British average salary&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">The former UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said that leaving the EU would be a &ldquo&semi;leap in the dark&comma;&rdquo&semi; but Katherine Kleveland&comma; chair of Norway&&num;8217&semi;s Nei til EU&comma; an anti-EU group disagrees wholeheartedly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s not dark here on the outside&period; You have to remember the world is bigger than the EU and the EU is struggling these days with the refugee crisis and the euro problem&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Kleveland&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Norway has voted to stay out of the EU twice in two EU referendums&comma; but still has access to its single market&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;They said 100&comma;000 jobs would be lost&comma; that the economy would be hit&comma; but it was shown to be false&comma; said Kleveland in response to what the UK Remain campaigners said during the last referendum&period; &&num;8220&semi;Our economy has growth and we didn&&num;8217&semi;t lose jobs&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">However&comma; Norway still felt the impact from the migrant crisis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;We had a very large amount of asylum seekers last autumn and they came within a very short period of time&period; It was a very challenging situation for Norway and remains challenging because many of the people who came are still unregistered&period; We are trying to find out who they really are&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Anders Amundsen&comma; Norway&&num;8217&semi;s Minister of Justice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">But&comma; the country has been able to peacefully absorb the 31&comma;000 migrants by taking a much different approach than the UK&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;We want the people coming to Norway and who gain residency to quickly learn Norwegian and to find a job as soon as possible&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Listhaug&period; &&num;8220&semi;The future of the country is what&&num;8217&semi;s most important&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">Norway&rsquo&semi;s political leaders are also optimistic about what the Brexit will bring&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal">&&num;8220&semi;We are a country that has always been opposed to elites&period; And the EU is an elite that takes too much power away from our parliament&period; We think it transfers too much sovereignty to an unelected bureaucracy in Brussels&comma;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi;said Sygve Slagsvold Vedum&comma; Center Party leader&nbsp&semi;to <em style&equals;"mso-bidi-font-style&colon; normal&semi;">The Associated Press&period;<&sol;em> &&num;8220&semi;Brexit means there is a new reality&comma; and there will be new trade agreements with the EU&period; We want to see the opportunities&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal"><strong>Author&rsquo&semi;s note&colon; <&sol;strong>It seems like Norway is doing just fine without being part of the EU and has more control of its borders and how to deal with an influx of migrants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"MsoNormal"><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> The EU has a lot of gall asking Norway to take in more refugees&period; Especially since the EU is having huge problems&period; My answer would be &&num;8220&semi;screw you&period;&&num;8221&semi; With the departure of the British&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m looking for others to start exit talks in the next couple of years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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