Europe’s Migration Paralysis
While hundreds of migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea this summer, voices have emerged in almost every corner of Europe calling for isolation, mass deportations, and new walls and fences. For their own sake, Europeans should stop treating migrants as a threat and start viewing them as an opportunity.
BERLIN – For many centuries, Europe was a continent plagued by wars, famines, and poverty. Millions of Europeans were driven to emigrate by economic and social deprivation. They sailed across the Atlantic to North and South America, and to places as far away as Australia, to escape misery and seek a better life for themselves and their children.