The refugee crisis in Europe

Up to now more than 705.200 refugees and immigrants have arrived in Europe crossing  Mediterranean sea in 2015. According to United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 3.210 persons have died or they are missing. More specifically, more than 562.355 refugees have arrived in Greece and 140.000 in Italy. The majority of them are Syrians and a small group of people come from different African or Asian countries. Babies and children are still drowning in the Aegean Sea and now it is more evident than never that Greece and Italy should not shoulder the burden alone. 

The refugee crisis is not only a humanitarian but also a political issue and has raised oppositions. Greece offers hospitality to hundreds of refugees and at the same time other European countries want to build fences and close their borders. The inability of Europe to deal with the refugee crisis in conjunction with the rise of far-right and xenophobic powers put at risk the unity of the European Union. On the one hand, Pier Moskovisi stated that Europe must not respond with ethnicism to refugee crisis. On the other hand, many European countries among them Hungary, Austria, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic express their fears and disagreements. The main fear is the Islamization of Europe and the spoiling of Christian element.

The EU has a number of problems to tackle for it to survive and the refugee crisis is one of them. Europe rejects Greek arguments about the difficulties of patrolling its maritime borders with Turkey and explicitly warned Athens about a Schengen expulsion. The unspoken truth is that is not Greece’s responsibility to stop immigrant trafficking on Turkeys coastline. It is believed that the European Union’s reaction came very late.  European leaders agreed to enhance control on the outer borders of Europe with personnel funded by the EU. At the same time, Greece should receive financial aid as an entry point.

From their part refugees are asylum seekers. They want to find a safe place away from the fear of war and for them Europe is their own promised land. They do not want to live in Greece mainly  Germany and North Europe is their terminal. They are skilled people who want to make a new beginning in Europe.

To summarize if Europe wants to retain its economic stability and unity then all the all the  European Union members should follow a common policy regarding the refugee crisis. The refugees are not enemies or terrorists there are people in need who need or help and support.  Europe should reexamine the refugees crisis without social bias and economic fears.