Nationalist Parties will continue to gain steam if Migration crisis is not handled quickly

Western Europe’s Dangerous Game

Remy
Remy
Aug 8, 2017 · 5 min read

Immigration remains the single gravest threat to the European project and is fueling anti-establishment forces; Europe must muster the strength to save itself.

Recently I finished reading Douglas Murray’s profound book The Strange Death of Europe, and found it extremely illuminating and utterly depressing. It is certainly not breaking news (especially to the citizens of Western European countries) that the Union is facing an unprecedented migrant crisis; however, Murray points out that this massive migrant crisis is coming at a very vulnerable time for Europe as many Europeans have lost faith in their values and what they are willing to stand for due to an overwhelming sense of guilt — coupled with a declining birthrate.

While it is hard to agree that Western Europe is in its death throes, clearly European capitals are at a loss for how to deal with the crisis. Further inaction, which constitutes continued unfettered immigration, will certainly lead to rising political instability, inequality, and rip at the social fabric of the young political Union. For example, the recent “near misses” of the French and Dutch elections does not mean that populism is on the retreat — but more alarmingly that such populist and extreme candidates got so close, as next time they could land a direct hit.

Ultimately, Europe has gotten itself into quite the pickle with not a lot of good options. It can keep the “open door” policy, ballyhooed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and allow millions of low-skill economic migrants in. Although, this policy will have drastic and permanent consequences; despite what some people say, no country can take in such sums of people (Sweden accepting 2% of its population in a year as the most extreme case) and expect the social fabric of the country to hold.

The other option is to try and stem and reverse course on the Migrant crisis. In my estimation there are three things that Brussels and European capitals can do easily and immediately in order to salvage the situation.

First, Europe must grapple with the enormity and severity of what it is facing and develop a fair immigration policy that respects the concerns of its citizens, and then enforce it. Many in Europe seem oblivious to just how many people want to live there. As Bill Gates recently pointed out, Europe will be overwhelmed with sheer number of migrants wanting to cross the Mediterranean; with reports as high as 6.6 million migrants waiting in Africa to cross into Europe.

Second, the European people and media need to decouple “migrant” and “refugee”. With the latter being offered refuge in Europe until such time as it is safe for them to return, while the former being either deterred or sent home. One could truly argue that there are only two or three countries in the world that qualify as legitimate sources of refugees: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. To be sure, Syrian families fleeing war and violence deserve refuge and the protection the EU can provide, but this should not commit European states to providing refuge to every person who faces danger in their home country.

Majority of refugee applicants in UK are not from war torn countries, rather they are economic migrants. Important distinction.
Majority of people through Mediterranean route are economic migrants, not Refugees

As you can see from the U.K. refugee council’s recent report on asylum applications by Country, out of the top ten only two countries (Iraq and Afghanistan) could seriously be considered a country at War. Nor is this the case for just the UK, in the first half of this year the largest country of origin for migrants arriving in Italy was Bangladesh, followed by Ivory Coast and Eritrea. In other words, coming from a third world country or one rife with corruption and economic depression should not give you an inalienable right to European citizenship. What appears to be the case is many migrants abusing the system, claiming legit refugee status when their home country is politically stable and not at war. This not only draws resources away from the native population of the host country (who in turn grow resentful), but draws resources away from legitimate refugees fleeing war.

This leads to the third policy prescription, one that can only be tackled through cooperation at the highest levels of the EU: stabilize North Africa and promote opportunity throughout sub-Saharan Africa. For the former, it appears that the French President Emmanuel Macron recognizes the need for a stable region and is willing to have the French take the lead in this arena. Stabilizing the region is likely to be far more interventionist then anyone predicts; and seeing as the French have recently seen some success in the region with military involvement in Mali during Operation Serval, they seem to be the right crew to take the lead on this issue. The later issue, of providing opportunity in the region, will likely be a hybrid of private investment and foreign aid; but any policy will likely take many years to bear fruit.

While it appears that EU leaders are starting to grapple with the situation in a realistic manner, much damage has already been done. Millions of citizens have lost faith in their leaders to be able to tackle the situation and/or do not believe the political elite are taking their concerns seriously. If the bloc wishes to avoid anymore Brexits, Pens or Wilders, then they need to become much more aggressive in solving this crisis.

Remy

Written by

Remy

American Centrist, pro science. NYC, Veteran, politics and business.

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