Thread by @tepsaeu

#EuropeChats Episode 6⃣ premieres at 09:30 via @YouTube! Join us LIVE to discuss #migration with @FriendsofEurope's @GilesMerritt 👉 the question: DOES EUROPE NEED MORE MIGRANTS?

Aaaaand we're LIVE! 🔴 join us over on @YouTube NOW for #EuropeChats episode 6⃣ 👉 DOES EUROPE NEED MORE MIGRANTS?

We have a special guest today: @GilesMerritt, journalist, author, and the founder of @FriendsofEurope ➡️ we are discussing his book "People Power: Why We Need More Migrants"

TEPSA Secretary-General @CloosJim will discuss this theme with him

"Every year we lose 1-2 million taxpayers" Giles Merritt makes the economic case in favour of migration into the EU

"The message is: we need more man power. We just don't have enough people"

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope

"Don't you think that if we do not better protect our borders, that we will not have the climate to start talking in a dispassionate way - as you try to - about migration"

- @CloosJim questions @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope on fear of migration

"I used to hold America as the shining example of how to handle migration"

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope bemoans the recently soaring rate of rejection for asylum applications in the USA

"If you claim asylum in Germany, you've got a very good chance of being accepted. If you try in some of the Southern Member States, your chance is nearly zero"

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope discusses the "problem of rigidity" in European asylum

"The difference between fleeing poverty and hunger, and fleeing civil conflict is rather a fine distinction, if you're fleeing"
- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope compares economic migrants and refugees: is there really a difference? To flee is to flee

"In most EU countries it is very difficult to open a bank account as a refugee. Well it's very difficult to be in society if you don't have a bank account. You can't get a job, you can't rent a flat"

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope

"Germany bore the brunt of the 2015-2016 crisis. At the time they said 'we will make money out of this', and that time has come: they are beginning to show a net profit from their investment in refugees"

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope

"The migration issue has really delivered us as Europe into the hands of the populists, and it's the fear of the other and so on"

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope describes the vicious circle of the resentment politics surrounding migration

"Terrorism has gone into sharp decline over the last thirty years. A sharp decline."

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope responds to fears of terrorism in Europe

"When @pewresearch asked people 'who is responsible for terrorism', 60% said 'absolutely, it is the migrants'"

"The ex-head of @INTERPOL_HQ said 0.01% would be an exaggeration"

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope reveals the myth of the link between migration and terrorism

How did Vilvoorde, Belgium, stop the radicalisation of 2nd & 3rd generation migrants? The mayor told police chiefs: "No more harassment. You do not pick up young men because they are of a different colour"

- @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope

This wraps up our special episode of #EuropeChats with @GilesMerritt from @FriendsofEurope - do check out this one and the rest of our episode of the show!