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WORLD NEWSMonday 14 March 2016
From ‘welcome’ to ‘enough’ _ Europe’s migrant view shifts
ANGELA CHARLTON Demonstrators hold candles and hold a sign reading ‘Togeth- Alexis Tsipras of Greece, the ing controls — declaring
Associated Press er against racism - 100 percent human dignity’ after the state first stop for migrants brav- that several Balkan nations
PARIS (AP) — Last fall, soc- elections in the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt in Mag- ing the sea crossing from and North African nations
cer fans celebrated refu- deburg, eastern Germany, Sunday, March 13, 2016. Turkey. Extreme right forces, are safe countries of ori-
gee children at a legend- he said, “are the real threat gin, making their citizens
ary Munich stadium; today, Associated Press for Europe now.” ineligible for asylum — as
European voters are boost- Governments are cracking it tries to reduce the influx
ing anti-immigrant political greeted weary travelers Attitudes shifted, creating down, too. The route hun- of migrants who have little
parties and governments with a hearty “Welcome to a turning point in the crisis dreds of thousands of mi- chance of winning permis-
are closing their gates to Germany,” and Chancel- that has dominated Europe grants have taken through sion to stay.
new arrivals. The refrain of lor Angela Merkel inspired for the past year and will the Balkans effectively
Europe’s migrant crisis has other nations to do the define its immediate future. closed over the past few Deterring those migrants
changed from “welcome” same. Players on the Mu- Now, resentment of the days, one nation after an- is central to the complex
to “enough already.” nich field promoted inte- open-arms approach is other shut its borders. Some EU migration plan being
gration, holding hands with driving support for a Ger- 42,000 people are now worked out this coming
Has Europe suddenly a refugee child on one side man nationalist party stranded in overwhelmed, week. The idea is for Europe
turned heartless? Or is it and a German child on the that made gains Sunday debt-weakened Greece, to send back to Turkey any-
just waking up to the reality other. in three state elections. including 14,000 desperate one from any country who
that it has failed to collec- On the margins, extreme souls languishing in a fetid doesn’t qualify for asylum
tively manage this drama? Then, the refugees kept anti-immigrant youth in field in the border town of or has tried to evade the
“It is not sustainable any- coming, along with eco- the French port of Calais Idomeni. rigorous asylum applica-
more that no one’s playing nomic migrants from Sene- torched tires and blocked tion process. For every per-
a common game,” said gal, people fleeing repres- migrants from the center of Some European leaders son sent back, EU countries
Yves Pascouau, a migra- sion in Sudan, and many, town this weekend, decry- consider the unilateral bor- would take in one con-
tion expert at the European many others. Amid the ing a “veritable invasion.” der closures to be a threat firmed Syrian war refugee.
Policy Center. “We need to swelling tide was a handful Sweden, which has taken to a continent meant to “The policy of waving
fix this and really need to of violent extremists, who in more migrants per capi- be borderless and based (people) through is over,”
move ahead.” found common cause with ta than any other country, on consensus. But propo- German Interior Minister
But not all Europeans see angry young men whose has suffered a spate of ar- nents say it’s the only way Thomas de Maiziere told
this as a problem they must families arrived a genera- son attacks on asylum cen- to show migrants with little ZDF television Thursday.
share. Worried about their tion earlier. ters and other sites. chance of winning asylum “We want to reach solu-
own weak economies, Paris was attacked. Women “Europe is at a critical cross- that smugglers are ped- tions. And a solution is that
concerned that their na- were assaulted in Cologne. roads,” said Prime Minister dling a false dream of easy we end these illegal ways
tional values are eroding, prosperity in Europe. to Europe, and so break
many say war in the Middle Even Merkel now makes the business model of the
East and poverty in Africa clear that she doesn’t plan criminal smugglers.”
are someone else’s respon- a repeat of last Septem- The coming warm season
sibility. ber’s move to let in the mi- may provide answers. With
Compassion had the upper grants who had piled up in the Balkans route closed,
hand just six months ago, as Hungary. others may emerge — and
the number of Syrian refu- She still insists on a Europe- an even more dangerous
gees soared and the photo wide solution that address- journey from lawless Libya
of a dead 3-year-old on a es the causes of this mas- across the Mediterranean
Turkish beach galvanized sive migration. But her gov- to Italy may offer renewed
volunteers. Border guards ernment has been tighten- promise.q
