EU lives “critical” times

EU leaders continue in disagreement on the best way to deal with the refugee crisis that started one year ago. © Zoran Global Make-Up Program 

Angela Merkel said the European Union is under “critical state” at the Bratislava Summit while president Juncker delivered the State of the Union saying the EU is undergoing an “existential crisis”. The wounds from Brexit are still far away from healing and the refugee crisis has become the main divergence threatening the stability of the Union.

The EU is cracking like an egg with the ongoing massive influx of refugees. EU leaders have different feelings on how to handle this humanitarian crisis. Border controls were tightened and barriers were built in Hungary on its border with Serbia and Croatia, Austria’s border with Slovenia and also on the Greek border through Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia.  The result is a great number of refugees and migrants stranded between borders under deplorable sanitary conditions and deprived from medical supplies.

Recently during a summit in Vienna, Hungarian PM Victor Orban suggested the EU should arm Libya to fight against ISIS and curb migration flux into Europe.

Orban’s government already threatened pressing changes to the EU’s fundamental Lisbon Treaty to strengthen members' sovereign powers if it wins clear victory in a referendum, in October, on rejecting migrant quotas.

In the meantime, Turkey is still complying with the controversial refugee pact with the EU, curbing the entrance of refugees via Turkish territory. But ongoing political turmoil following the coup has highlighted crucial divergences between the former Ottoman Empire and the EU, compromising the system of preventing refugees and migrants entering the EU.

Germany’s AfD

In Germany, the right-wing AfD - Alternative for Germany - has recently gained 14,2% of the votes in the regional elections, stealing Merkel’s electorate. This result poses a major risk to the stranded refugees who wish to enter or stay in Germany as Merkel, perhaps with her mind on the 2017 federal elections, has admitted failure on her migration policy. However, Merkel stands by Greek PM Alex Tsipras – a not so common alliance – in calling for a more progressive refugee policy.

Berlin’s way of dealing with the crisis has been to focus on curbing illegal immigration and human smuggling while continue to allow legal migration. However the plan depends on the disposition of other EU countries to accept refugees, something that has been proven somewhat complicated.

  

The crisis in numbers

According to UNHCR, only 81,893 refugees were resettled at global level, in which only 30 countries out of 196 are actually offering resettlement places. As for the Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, there has been no reaction whatsoever to accept refugees up until today.

The International Organisation for Migration has estimated that over 1 million refugees have entered Europe throughout the year 2015. By June 2016, around 156 000 people have reached Europe and these numbers are still rising with boats arriving every day to the Italian and Greek coasts. Meanwhile, the Help Refugees charity revealed almost 1,200 children reached Calais, known as the “Jungle”, in August alone with an astounding estimate of 87% of the minors being alone.

 Asylum claims in Europe in 2015. © Eurostat and BBC

 Back to the origins of the crisis

In New York, the UN General Assembly, commonly known as UNGA, dedicated this year’s convention to the refugee and migrant crisis. The situation in Syria became critical after the UN suspended movement of all aid in the country when the US expressed outrage for the airstrikes carried to aid volunteers in Aleppo. The blame game continues with both the Russian and Syrian government denying having carried out the attacks.

The EU Ambassador for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini urged at the UNGA, "we need to build a system for human mobility. A system where people can move safely, legally, voluntarily, in the full respect of their human rights and in a sustainable way”, said Mogherini.

Conclusions

With all the turmoil going on and refugees arriving every day at EU’s shores, much time is wasted on summits convening all the leaders – Italian PM Matteo Renzi admitted the Bratislava Summit was a “waste of time”. Disagreements seem to be prevailing, nonetheless, the countries that are committed to helping should be given more incentives and focus should be given to a practicable system able to transport and protect people from smugglers.

Writer for the Foreign Affairs magazine, Jakub Grygiel criticized the modus operandi of the European Union on its article titled “The Return of Europe’s Nation-States” where he accuses the EU’s architects of having built a unified political and administrative bureaucracy but not a united European nation.