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EU-MIGRANTS-GERMANY
Migrant crisis haunts EU three years after Merkel’s fateful call
BERLIN, Sept 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel won
accolades for her stunning call on September 4, 2015 to keep open Germany’s
doors to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, many fleeing war-torn Syria
or Iraq.
Three years on, scenes of far-right protesters chasing down foreigners in a
German city have shocked the world.
All of Europe has seen a sea-change since the migration crisis erupted.
Britain is now just months away from quitting the European Union, the far-
right is sharing power in both Italy and Austria, while right-wing extremist
group AfD has become the biggest opposition party in Germany’s parliament.
If there is a common denominator for these upheavals in European politics,
it is the migration crisis seized upon by pro-Brexiters and far-right forces
across Europe as the public enemy in their campaigns.
Despite her “we can do it” rally cry, Merkel has since agreed to toughening
restrictions to curb new arrivals, while the EU as a bloc is seeking to stop
migrants landing on its soil.
As a result, the influx has slowed considerably.
In Germany, which recorded 745,545 asylum applications in 2016, just 93,316
were registered for the first half of this year.
Some headway also appears to have been made on integration.
One in four asylum seekers who arrived in Germany since 2015 have since
found work, according to data released in May by the employment ministry’s
think-tank IAB.
Nevertheless, “migration remains the biggest challenge” for the bloc, noted
Stefan Lehne, visiting professor at Carnegie Europe.
“While the numbers of arrivals are down, the hysteria is up, as populist
movements and a growing number of mainstream politicians are building their
business model on anti-migration sentiments.”
In the most recent illustration of the deep-seated resentment against
newcomers, hundreds of mostly white men gathered swiftly in the eastern
German city of Chemnitz, some attacking foreign-looking people, after news
circulated that a German man was stabbed to death last Sunday, allegedly by
an Iraqi and a Syrian.
Across the Atlantic, US President Donald Trump in June also poured fuel on
the burning topic: “Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of
people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!”
– ‘Fatal solvent of the EU?’ –
Some analysts warn that not only was Europe’s migration crisis not over, it
could yet be the undoing of the EU itself.
Offering a pessimistic reading of the situation, British historian Niall
Ferguson wrote: “Far from leading to a fusion, Europe’s migration crisis is
leading to fission.”
“Increasingly I believe that the issue of migration will be seen by future
historians as the fatal solvent of the EU,” the professor at Harvard
predicted.
“In their accounts Brexit will appear as merely an early symptom of the
crisis.”
EU member states’ reaction to the refugee influx has been dramatically
different to that of the financial crisis, which was marked by countries
sacrificing controls over the banking system to save the euro, Lehne noted.
“The response to the recent refugee crisis was just the opposite,” with
countries turning instead to national measures.
“This logic of re-nationalisation, combined with the rise of xenophobia and
identity politics in many EU countries, now hampers the development of robust
collective instruments to deal with migration challenges,” he said.
– ‘Nationalist international’ –
The migration crisis has also unearthed a key fault-line between western
European nations and the former communist bloc, with Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban leading the east in flatly refusing to take in refugees.
“Ten years ago, the biggest problem in Europe was that western Europeans
were unhappy about EU expansion as they fear job losses,” said Bulgarian
political scientist Ivan Krastev in an interview with Die Welt daily.
“Today, eastern Europeans feel they are the biggest losers.”
But he nevertheless voiced support for Merkel’s fateful decision because
leaving frontline nations Italy and Greece alone to deal with the crisis in
2015 “would have been the end of the EU”.
Italy’s far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini has repeatedly accused
Europe of abandoning his country.
Ahead of next year’s European parliament elections, the hardline minister
has also aligned himself with the right-wing “Visegrad” countries of the
Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Hungary to form an anti-migration camp.
“The appearance of a ‘nationalist international’ will hopefully trigger a
counter-mobilisation of pro-European political forces,” said Lehne, noting
that this could in turn spark a necessary healthy debate on the future of the
EU.
“Such a debate involves risks, as major parts of the public remain
alienated from the EU, but it also could turn into a catalyst for positive
change. Some storms are necessary to clear the air and provide a better view
on what the future holds.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0936 hrs