Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Worrying times ahead Europe

Fear for migrants feeds nationalism all across the EU. Values and stability at stake


editorial

Fear is growing up, fear is dominating general feeling in Europe. The answer offered to the migrant crisis showed the whole continent scared by the huge amount of people coming from other parts of the world. We could say we are talking about people coming from the same Countries the western world (so the EU, as well) have always exploited, but it couldn't change anything. The political message coming from Poland is clear: there is more and more people against the admission policy for migrants tabled by the European Union, and there is no place for foreigners. Migrants have become too much, and Europe can't or don't want to help all these people. Most important, more and more Member States have fear. Polish population gave a clear mandate to decision makers. Granting an absolute majority to Jaroslaw Kaczyński and his far right party Law and Justice mean Poland has chosen a tougher path. Equality, respect and tolerance are all values at stake, and not only in Poland. Far right parties are rising up all across Europe, and national governments are acting building up fences, sending troops on the border, calling migrants to go away. Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia are against any assistance. These countries basically are against everything different from national standards. Now Poland will join this group, while in France the xenophobic party Front National is strong as never happened in history of the Fifth Republic.

Migrants represent a risk factor. They are seen as potential job stealers and sources of problems. Indeed, it's not possible to imagine that a huge amount of people with their own habits will never ask to maintain their culture. Take Muslims as example. They always pretend a mosque, they always pretend to live as they use to live in their society, and here we come to the key problem: migrants have the power to transform our society, and this is what Europe is afraid of. Numbers are the problem, and this the reason why quotas are not accepted in Europe. When a minority is composed by three or four people there is no problem. On the contrary, when a minority is still a minority but huge in number the situation change. Take Romania, where Hungarians represent a nation question. Take Spain, where Catalans are pushing to reshape the geo-political map. In front of a well known threat governments know what to do, but when scenarios are unclear then strictness is the answer. In such a background, worrying times lie ahead Europe. Nationalism has traditionally and historically been the main reason for conflicts, and Europe is slowly coming back to dangerous behaviour. Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and even Germany have been tempted by the situation to re-introduce border controls. Europe is at a turning point. In front of this panic the EU started renegotiating the EU membership of Turkey. The basic idea is a share of commitments: Turkey will ensure migrants won't come to Europe, and Europe will revitalise the accession process. Doing so the EU closes the eyes in front of the media restrictions in Turkey, the non-respect of fundamentals rights. We talk about the basic principles of the EU, sold for a while, sold in return of a return policy of migrants. What happens in Europe is something not remarkable at all. On the contrary, it appears as more than a alarm bell. 

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