Finnish President: “Europe Cannot Withstand Uncontrolled Migration for Much Longer”

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In recent months we have featured prominently the immigration-critical statements of Central European prime ministers and heads of state, including former Czech President Václav Klaus, Czech President Miloš Zeman, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. These men speak out against Islamization, standing in sharp contrast to the cowardly milquetoasts who are passed off as political leaders in Western Europe and North America.

To that list of courageous truth-tellers must be added Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, who recently gave a surprising realistic speech assessing the dangers of the European “refugee” crisis. As reported by Tundra Tabloids, Yle — the Finnish state broadcaster — cut the most “xenophobic” minute out of the president’s speech when they aired it. Shades of Al Jazeera!

Many thanks to KGS for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript (times from the original clip):

02:52   Migration is a serious problem. Europe, Finland, the Western way of thinking
02:58   and our values have all been challenged by it.
03:03   This is a stark transformation;
03:08   just a few years ago we were exporting our values
03:12   and regarded them as unquestionable, now we are having to consider whether
03:17   even we ourselves can preserve them.
03:21   The flow of immigration into Europe and Finland
04:01   is largely a case of migration rather than a flight from immediate danger.
04:06   All estimates predict that the flow of people will increase this year.
04:11   This is challenging the ability of western democracies to help,
04:16   and also challenging the very structures underlying the idea of Europe.
04:22   In the resulting chaos, the situation facing the migrants can only worsen.
04:25   It is known that refugees are being exploited.
04:30   We have just heard about the 10,000 missing minors in Europe.
04:37   Human traffickers, with huge illicit business operations,
04:41   are exploiting and cashing in on the situation, often risking the lives of those on the move.
04:48   There is also a risk that refugees will be used
04:51   as pawns in cynical power politics.
04:55   We hear a great deal of talk about how we must close our borders,
05:00   or at least limit the number of entrants, and, most of all, immediately return wrongdoers.
05:06   Many people agree and wonder why we have not done so already.
05:11   There is an explanation for this.
05:16   I am now approaching the key issue.
05:19   International agreements, EU directives and national laws
05:22   have been enacted and thought through in an admirable, right-minded manner
05:28   — in order to protect all those who are in danger.
05:32   However, in practice this means that anyone who knows how to pronounce
05:35   the word “asylum” can enter Europe and Finland;
05:41   in essence, use of the word grants a kind of subjective right to cross the border.
05:46   Without any good grounds whatsoever, an arrival is entitled to an evaluation
05:51   lasting years, and can then, if not qualifying for asylum,
05:54   avoid enforcement of the subsequent decision and remain
05:58   where he or she arrived under false pretences. And so we come to the dilemma that is so
06:06   deeply rooted in our values.
06:09   Europe cannot withstand uncontrolled migration for much longer.
06:14   Our values will give way if our capacity to cope is exceeded.
06:18   It so happens that good intentions are creating a bad situation for everyone.
06:23   It is alleged that most, if not almost all,
06:27   measures that might be taken to control the process
06:30   are in breach of international rights and agreements.
06:33   The result is that we cannot do what many people consider necessary.
07:22   It has also been suggested that the International Convention on Refugee should be amended.
07:26   This would be a slow process, unlikely to solve what is an acute problem.
07:34   The international rules were drawn up and their interpretation evolved
07:37   under quite different circumstances.
07:41   I feel sure that if these international regulations,
07:45   and the national regulations based on them, were drawn up now,
07:48   their content would be fundamentally more stringent,
07:51   while still taking account of human rights and helping those in need.
07:57   There are therefore no good options.
08:02   We have to ask ourselves whether we aim to protect Europe’s values and people,
08:07   and those who are truly in acute danger, or inflexibly stick to the letter of our international obligations
08:13   with no regard for the consequences.
08:17   We must now take stock of where we are headed.
08:21   The objective is to strike a balance which, when viewed from all angles,
08:25   would be at least satisfactory, since this is the best we can do right now.
08:32   First of all, we must safeguard our foundation of European values
08:36   — there should be no confusion about this.
08:40   Secondly, we must help those who are in distress
08:43   or being persecuted. At the moment,
08:46   however, we cannot help those who are merely seeking a better life
08:50   or feel that their circumstances and future are difficult in their home countries.
08:56   Europe is still seeking a balanced solution to the problem.
09:00   Many governments are acting unilaterally,
09:03   pursuing their own narrow interests or engaging in a display of defiance
09:07   while issuing threats. At some point, someone has to recognise that, here and now,
09:12   we cannot fulfil all of our obligations under international agreements.
09:18   Most of the national proposals put forward are based on this realisation.
09:24   It would be best to face facts,
09:29   and best of all for the EU to do so and embark on the joint control of our borders,
09:34   the slowing down of migration and the acceleration of deportations,
09:39   thereby creating a safe space for those in the worst distress.
09:48   The termination of various conflicts, such as the Syrian war,
09:51   would also be an indispensable part of the solution.
09:54   This will require extensive international cooperation, in which we will certainly do our part.
10:00   However, no rapid relief of this kind is in prospect,
10:03   nor is it likely that it would deter those
10:07   who are migrating for other reasons.
 

15 thoughts on “Finnish President: “Europe Cannot Withstand Uncontrolled Migration for Much Longer””

  1. “Yle — the Finnish state broadcaster — cut the most “xenophobic” minute out of the president’s speech when they aired it.”

    This is ambiguous. Did Yle broadcast, or rather not broadcast, the most xenophobic minute that they cut out of the president’s speech. I didn’t hear anything xenophobic. So Yle must have deleted this xenophobic part, which I would have liked to hear.

    By the way, in listening to this Finnish speech, words with English cognates are few and far between. Unlike speech in Italian, where a recognizable word can be heard in almost every sentence, Finnish seems to form words from native-Finnish roots, rather than from Greek and Latin roots.

    • Mark,

      Finnish is a part of the Finno-Ugric branch of languages, which includes Finnish, Estonian and, interestingly enough, Hungarian. This is an entirely separate branch on the Indo-European tree, hence the lack of recognisable root words with English.

      I remember a very interesting exchange I witnessed where a Hungarian and a Finn randomly spoke words to see if there were any that matched. The only one they found which was the same in both languages was ‘blood’.

  2. I”m afraid Niiinistro has a long way to go.

    He admits the right of refuge might be abused, but implicitly recognizes that a country like Finland has the obligation to accept a genuine refugee, regardless of the consequence to itself. In other words, as long as Muslims persecute other Muslims (eternity) Muslims have a legal right to enter the states of Europe.

    He also recognizes the obligation and sanctity of European regulations and EU laws. He does not discuss pulling out of the EU and the jurisdiction of international bodies as a unilateral move by Finland. He is not willing to act outside the laws and treaties which are now destroying Europe and its peoples.

    European countries, to survive, must break their treaties and obligations. Even refugees in real need should have no claim on a host country that is counter to the interests of the host country. By now, it is perfectly obvious that the many UN and NGO organizations supposedly devoted to providing relief are in fact pursuing political agendas, and deserve no respect.

    • Baby steps, RB, baby steps.

      As far as I know, this is the first time a national leader in a non-East Bloc European state has said anything close to this. Yes, his words aren’t up to Geert Wilders’ standards, but this guy already holds office, AND Finland is a notoriously PC place.

      Jussi Halla-aho got prosecuted and convicted for saying stuff that wasn’t all that different. So this is pretty amazing, really.

  3. Hailing from Finland, here.
    As mild as the speech by our President may seem, rest assured that it was quite the “dambuster” bomb here in Finland. Now that even the President has voiced his concerns about the uncontrolled migration, many of those who didn’t have the courage to do so before, feel emboldened enough now to voice their concerns, too.

    Despite the inevitable leftard screeches of “racism, xenophobia, fascism and islamophobia(even though no mention of muslims or islam was in the speech)”, the vast majority of the people were overjoyed by this speech. Just like everywhere else, any criticism of the flood of migrants was immediately branded as racism. Now that the President himself, a President widely respected by the population, has opened the verbal floodgates, it is that much more difficult to pull out the racist-card.

    Still, it was just talk. Now the people expect actions to back that talk. Not all of us are holding our breaths on that regard…

  4. Talk is just talk and you could argue that he was just stating the obvious.
    Meanwhile Merkel has crawled on her hands and knees YET AGAIN to beg Turkey for their assistance in this crisis, no doubt promising them, God forbid, EU membership in return. Brave as such speeches are I cannot get the image of Nero fiddling whilst Rome burnt out of my head.

  5. I would not add him to the truth-teller hall of fame, not yet anyway. He is too apologetic for the disastrous policies inflicted upon Europe, still wants “a safe space for those in the worst distress” and talks of slowing not stopping the invasion. Worst of all he tells us how difficult it is to change things and “no rapid relief is in prospect”. In short it is a hypocritical excuse of the hand-wringing “what else can we do” variety.

    • I agree with your take on this speech.
      “Good intentions are creating a bad situation for everyone…”
      Anyone who thinks the invasion of Europe by third world dropouts is the result of good intentions, is naïve and ‘thick as a plank’.
      “Because of International Agreements and Rules we cannot do what many consider necessary….”
      So,……just let Europe be over-run and ruined?

  6. The President’s speech was delivered to the Finnish people and should therefore be understood and interpreted in that very context, Not in the American or British or German context. He emphasised the danger and threat to our values, and we understood that. For other people the speech might have felt mild, not to us. We have almost 1000 miles of border to Russia, more than all of EU, and the immediate threat comes from that direction in the form of foreign “guest workers” in Russia now that the Russian economy is getting even worse. We need to negotiate with Russia, something that the EU will not do on behalf of us, as you well know.

  7. I have an easy solution to the problem. Cut off all aid, food, and housing. Let’s see if they still want to migrate to Finland.

    • Got it in one! I’ve been saying that for the last 20 years but no one will listen! No one in the western world has the guts to do that, but it’s the only way to bring things to a head and solve the problem–one way or the other.

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