Erstellt am: 22. 9. 2015 - 16:14 Uhr

EU bickering over 120.000 refugees? Seriously?

EU interior ministers meet to talk refugees, how the refugees crisis is impacting on Austria's regional elections, TTIP alternatives, Greenpeace's 100% renewables target, the history of the Basques

As the EU member states continue to wriggle and wrangle as they try to find an acceptable solution to the refugee situation, it's worth taking a little "reality check" on just exactly what they are talking about: the relocation of 120,000 people.

Germany alone says it expects to take up to 1.000.000 refugees this year, so the number they are arguing about at the meeting in Brussels is just over a tenth of that - spread over the other 27 member states. So, let's put that number of 120.000 in context.

What do 120.000 people look like?

APA/EXPA/SEBASTIAN PUCHER

two well attended football matches....

APA/HERBERT P. OCZERET

... or a full house at the Frequency Festival

The average crowd attending a soccer international at the Ernst Happel Station is around 50.000 - so we're talking just over 2 football matches.

They could all go to the FM4 Frequency Festival on the same day (Festival capacity: 120.000 per day), but if they all went to the Glastonbury Festival, they would need to take some friends to fill it up (Glastonbury capacity: 180.000).

Or putting it another way: there are 751 members of the European Parliament. If each of them took responsibility for 160 refugees, the 120.000 would all be relocated.

It's estimated that over 500.000 migrants have arrived in Europe this year by sea, and thousands more are arriving every day.

That figure of 120.000 that Brussels is bickering about looks more irrelevant and ridiculous by the minute, doesn't it?

By the way, the European Commission employs around 33.000 people.

Back in the real (or is it surreal?) world, as Sandra Gathmann reports from Brussels, the political posturing goes on, and the chances of an agreement are slim, to say the least.

Refugees and the regional elections

Political analyst, Thomas Hofer, examines the impact of the refugee crisis on the upcoming regional elections in Vienna and Upper Austria.

The alternatives to TTIP

John Hilary of War on Want discusses fairer alternatives to the controversial TTIP agreement.

100% renewables by 2050

Sven Teske, senior writer of the new "Energy Revolution" report from Greenpeace, explains why 100% renewable energy is achievable within a generation.

The origin of the Basques

Mattias Kakobsson from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, reveals the secret behind the history of the Basque people, and why it has come as a surprise to many anthropologists.

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