Resist the sirens

Quentin Peel writes a balanced appraisal of Pim Fortuyn and the rise of the right in Europe. He echoes my view that immigration is both necessary and welcome in Europe, given the scale of impending demographic change.

“The only sensible answer for Europe’s leaders is to welcome immigration and seek to manage it, not to listen to the siren voices of the far right that would halt it. A free-for-all may be unmanageable, but ‘regulated openness’ should be the goal. In Rotterdam, Mr Fortuyn may have sounded plausible when he said the boat was full, but he was fundamentally wrong.”