A Challenge for the EU (and the World): How to Cope with Refugees?

The refugee crisis has divided Europe as nearly no other issue before. One has to deal with the following aspects: a) there seems to be a widely accepted conviction that to restrict/manage migration is a right of nations, b) but there is also the value/legal position, that the EU has the obligation to help people in need who are forced to flee their home countries, c) there are much more refugees worldwide, who are only supported on a very low level, if at all, and d) as usually in the EU the question of fairness in burden sharing hat to be taken in account. Therefore the following proposal will be argued: the EU should introduce a (e.g.) 2% additional tariff on all imports, and reserve the ensuing income for refugee expenses. To turn to tariffs instead taxes is firstly based on the Stiglitz argument, that modest tariffs may be useful due to learning externalities and secondly due to the desired quality of a worldwide generalization of this approach. A relevant part of the generated income should be distributed to those EU member countries who are willing to take in refugees. The remaining part should go to the UNHCR to support refugees elsewhere. In contrast to other tariff discussions a ‘retaliation’ of countries outside the EU is not feared but rather aspired - as long as a similar scheme for the generated income comes with it: cover the own costs of refugees and with the remaining funds support the UNHCR.