Ana içeriğe atla

EU struggles to find a way out from refugee crisis

One of the major challenges the European Union had to face in the last decade is the refugee crisis that erupted following the outbreak of the Syrian war. Currently, many member states are divided over the refugee issue. Strong nationalistic movements are emerging while populist leaders and right-wing parties are gaining more and more power.
The peace that the EU could achieve after long and devastating wars, values like human rights and its soft power attract potential candidate states and also people who had to escape their homes for a safe and secure future. However, terrorist attacks carried out or inspired by Daesh made EU countries reluctant to accept refugees.
The economic situation does not help either, as many EU states fight recession, high unemployment, low or negative growth and high debts. These factors cause dissatisfaction with current governments and the status quo in general. As a consequence, xenophobia and support for far-right parties increase throughout the EU. While this trend forces political parties to lean toward the right, it also challenges European values and questions the identity and the future of the bloc.
One thing is sure; EU member states were not prepared for such a huge influx of refugees. The EU has serious problems addressing the refugee crisis born from the Syrian war that affects it directly, although the EU is not situated near the war zone.
The refugee crisis altered many decisions previously taken to unite member states into one Europe without borders, and with free movement of people and goods. EU members are re-drawing their borders with additional security measures. They are asking for their sovereignty back from Brussels in order to control their own borders. They want the Schengen agreements suspended for the same reason and do not accept refugee quotas imposed by EU.
The idea of a united Europe, formed by different nation-states with a common European identity, struggles when it faces a crisis such as this one. Although member states willingly surrender part of their sovereignty for the well-being of the EU, in times of crisis, members return to their national identities and sovereignties.
Security implications led the EU to form the first European Security Strategy in 2003 and the EU Global Strategy in June 2016. Both guidelines can be described as examples of an EU identity-building project. The latter was prepared during the height of the refugee and eurozone crisis and launched just after the British decision to leave the EU. The strategy guideline's purpose is to position the EU as a global player that wants to engage more in global security issues. This was the ambitious goal set for the EU at a time when its internal problems were apparent.
The rise in the number of refugees and the tragedies in the Mediterranean during their dangerous voyages to Europe forced the EU to find a common solution. This was a humanitarian crisis, but it also showed that there was a need to reform current EU policies. However, this influx caused a major clash of interests between the EU and its member states.
The EU tried to solve the problem with the help of various initiatives. With the Stockholm Program in 2009, the EU prepared a security roadmap and migration was recognized as a key priority. In 2015, the European Agenda on Migration was presented, with the EU going beyond strengthening security measures. It reduces the incentives for irregular migration, tries to secure external borders and creates a common asylum policy and a new policy on legal migration. It also gives priority to the Mediterranean.
Additionally, the EU funded Frontex for joint search and rescue operations. It decided to strengthen the Europol's role in order to launch operations according to the Common Security and Defense Policy in the Mediterranean to capture boats. The EU also created a forum, the Shared Awareness and De-Confliction in the Mediterranean, to gather countries and organizations affected by the migratory phenomenon in the Mediterranean to coordinate maritime security operations. However, these attempts were not enough to solve the crisis as the lack of enthusiasm from member states limited the effectiveness of the policies.
According to the Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management, Turkey currently has 3.5 million registered Syrian refugees. As EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn has said, the EU is committed to assisting Turkey in dealing with this challenge because "[t]he current refugee crisis is a challenge of global dimensions. We have to work hand in hand with our partners and neighboring countries beyond EU borders which are most affected."
However, despite Turkey's central role in preventing the refugee influx into the EU via Greece, relations between the EU and Turkey have been deteriorating since the failed 2016 coup attempt. In that sense, the Varna summit that will be held in Bulgaria on March 26 with the attendance of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov represents an important attempt to improve ties.
Since 2016, the EU-Turkey refugee deal mostly put a halt to the irregular arrival of Syrian refugees in Greece. But according to Frontex, the EU's southern borders on the Mediterranean will remain under heavy pressure from African migrants fleeing poverty back home and trying to reach Europe this year. In 2017, more than 18,000 Nigerians tried to reach the EU via Spain, exceeding the 14,000 Syrians who sought entry via Greece.
The EU has fundamentally been about solidarity and unity, about the dream of a common future, but the refugee crisis threatens this, as it divides from within. The issue pulls apart member states and polarizes states from within. Although there are many attempts to come up with a common solution, the rise of nationalism and xenophobia, the strengthening of far-right parties and their populist leaders, EU's dismal response to the refugee crisis and its inadequate response to the eurozone crisis makes us question the EU's values and future.
Karel Valansi, Daily Sabah March 3, 2018

Yorumlar

Bu blogdaki popüler yayınlar

“We are Beyond What I Had Dreamed of When I Moved to Dubai”

Cem Habib  We talked about how the peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates affected the Jewish life in the Emirates, with the investment manager Cem Habib, who has been living in Dubai since 2016, and who is one of the founding members of the Jewish Council of Emirates (JCE), the first officially recognized Jewish community of the UAE. How long have you been living in Dubai? What influenced you in deciding to live here? I moved to Dubai in 2016, before I had been living in London. My customer base at that time was in Kazakhstan and it had gotten harder commuting there from London every month after 6 years. There were three direct flights between Dubai and Kazakhstan, every day, with a flight time of less than 4 hours. To improve our quality of life and to spend more time with the kids, we moved to Dubai. When moving, how could you overcome the thought “As a Jew, will I be comfortable living in an Arab country with my family?” I talked to my friends from different countri

Survivor Hayim’in gerçek dünyası - Söyleşi

Hayim, çok sevdiğim bir arkadaşımın kuzeni. Aklı başında, ne istediğini bilen biri. Askerlik dönüşünde ani bir kararla Survivor yarışmasına katıldığını duyduğumda çok şaşırmıştım. Pek spor yapmayan, atletik olmayan biri neden zor koşullarda, dayanıklılık, irade ve güç isteyen bir televizyon programına katılır? Bunları konuşurken, sayesinde takip etmeye başladığım Survivor ile ilgili tüm merak ettiklerimi de sordum; kameralara yansımayan gizli bir tuvalet var mıydı, ya da yayın bitince gidilen lüks bir otel? Begüm’le arasında bir yakınlaşma oldu mu, Merve neden pişman oldu yarışmaya katıldığına? İşte Sabah Gazetesinden Yüksel Aytuğ’un teşekkür ettiği, seyircilerin filozof olarak tanımladığı Hayim ve Survivor yarışmasının bilinmeyenleri… Survivor maceran nasıl başladı? Katılmak nereden aklına geldi? Arkadaşlarımla uzun süredir Survivor’u takip ediyorduk. Hep katılmak istiyordum ama televizyona çıkmak beni korkutuyordu. Geçen sene iki yakın arkadaşım Dominik’e gittiler. Yarışmacıları

The one question people asked me when I got home from Turkey - Tami Sussman

If I had been handed a hundred dollars for every Australian Jew who asked me if I was worried about travelling to Turkey in July due to antisemitism, I would have been able to fly business class. Qantas business class. Add another hundred for every Jew who asked me how I could justify supporting the Turkish economy in the current climate and I could have made it a return flight.  Instead, I found myself wedged between my screaming children in economy with separate  Bluey theme songs blasting through unsynced iPads, reassessing every life choice that had brought me to this point. Reproducing with their half-Turkish Sephardi father Yosi “because he is very good looking” suddenly seemed like a questionable decision made by a naive 30-year-old who didn’t consider the inevitable trip we’d have to make in order for the children to meet their great grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins who don’t travel further than Madrid.  The honest truth is yes, I was worried about antisemitism. I had rea