Arguments

The BMVI money finances Europe’s isolationist policy. The Schengen states have paid a total of 6.24 billion euros into the BMVI fund (Border Management and Visa Policy Instrument). The money can be used to finance new border defense projects from 2021 to 2027. The BMVI is already the third financial instrument of this kind. The goal remains the racist isolation of Europe. Parliament will decide in mid-March whether Switzerland, as an associated Schengen state, will contribute CHF 300 million. Resistance is needed against the BMVI fund.

300 million for letting people die at Europe’s external borders?

Violence, misery and death have become part of everyday life at Europe’s external borders. While privileged people with a passport or visa can move freely, refugees and migrants are blocked. They are disenfranchised, beaten and deported at the border. The closure of the Schengen area has already claimed tens of thousands of lives – and the number is growing every day. Despite this, the budget for the racist sealing off of Europe continues to rise thanks to BMVI funding.

300 million to seal off Europe?

The fences and walls at the Schengen area’s external borders are getting longer, higher and more massive. Border police patrol day and night. Airplanes, helicopters, vehicles and military boats are in constant use. Countless data from drones, (thermal) cameras, motion detectors and surveillance zeppelins are being analyzed. The BMVI money is reinforcing this militarization of the borders. Malta used money from the predecessor fund to buy a new surveillance aircraft, Croatia bought another dog squadron, Italy financed two helicopters, Estonia a patrol vessel, etc.

300 million for police brutality?

Most of the BMVI money goes to countries on the Schengen external borders. The level of brutality and suffering there has been increasing for years. And specifically where people affected by racism, refugees and migrants try to cross the border: Croatian border police beat and torture in the border area. The Greek coast guard carries out illegal pushbacks in the Aegean Sea. The Hungarian border police have been condemned several times for human rights violations. The Italian coast guard works together with Libyan warlords in the Mediterranean who force refugees and migrants back into Libyan detention centers. The BMVI money subsidizes police brutality instead of abolishing it.

300 million for a racist system of exclusion?

The Schengen Agreement divides the world into a supposed inside and outside. At the external borders, it becomes clear which lives are considered worthy of protection in the European migration regime and which are not. Freedom of movement, equal rights, security and protection only apply to privileged persons within the Schengen area. Refugees and migrants are left to die and housed in undignified camps. People affected by racism who want to immigrate and seek protection and a future are stylized as a threat. This exclusion is racist and is supported by BMVI funding.

300 million for colonial continuities?

European prosperity is heavily based on the exploitation of the Global South: European states are destroying livelihoods, stealing resources and exploiting nature and racialized people. This imperial way of life leads to poverty, crises and wars in the Global South. Many people are forced to leave their homes: Colonial continuities are a major cause of flight and migration. The colonial relationship between the Global South and Europe becomes visible at the Schengen external borders. Schengen is an instrument of power for Europe to assert its economic interests and maintain its own privileged position within the world. The money from the BMVI fund helps to maintain colonial conditions.

300 million for freedom of movement and residence for all.

We oppose the European policy of death with a policy for all. Freedom of movement and residence are a basis for this. It enables more collective forms of coexistence. Borders, nationalist exclusions, racist relations of “us” and “the others”, as well as colonial continuities can be broken down and overcome in this way. Freedom to stay also means that people do not have to leave. To achieve this, colonial exploitation, climate destruction and the exploitation of raw materials must be combated: 300 million for a society based on solidarity and equality!

300 million for climate justice.

Worldwide, more people are displaced by climate crises and environmental disasters than by violence and conflict. Migration is often the last possible option for adapting to the consequences of climate change. Despite this, the prevailing policy refuses to set appropriate climate policy targets as well as compensation and reparation payments. These could make it possible to mitigate the climate crisis and adapt to its consequences. The right to stay requires the preservation and protection of the livelihoods of all people instead of the expansion of a deadly border system. The privileges of the few must not take precedence over the future of the many. Climate justice therefore also means anti-racism and freedom of movement and residence for all.

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