The refugee crisis is not solved yet. Hence, the issue dominated the European Union (EU) summit that was to deliberate on the questions of Brexit. While EU leaders claim that consensus has been reached, the details, on how EU will deal with the problem and who will take what share of refugees, are scant. The proposition of countries volunteering to set up controlled migrant processing centres is one of many vague points of the deal.
As EU states and others debate how best to respond to the crisis of migration, it is essential to comprehend the global rise in forced displacement, including a sharp increase in those seeking safety across the sea. What many EU leaders fail to see while arguing for setting up centres for refugees outside Europe is the fact that 86 per cent of the world’s refugees are already seeking protection in developing countries.
The EU deal is already a fragile one for right after declaring it a win, Austria, France, Germany and Italy refused to establish any controlled centres on its soil. The real task will start soon when EU formulates policy on the already controversial subject of refugee quotas.
The issue of migration is, perhaps, the body’s most challenging issue. The deliberations over the migration problem will be a litmus test on EU’s future as Merkel had already warned that the future of EU hinged on its success or failure to find solutions to the “vital questions” posed by migration. At the same time, the summit’s outcome will serve the purpose of gauge measuring the sanity and humanity of a more civilised Europe on the thorny subject of refugees and migration.
While Macron takes pride in finding a European solution for migration crisis, the language of the deal suggests that EU’s dealing with migration will be as cruel and inhumane as that of the United States that has attracted global condemnation for its latest assault on “illegal migrants” tearing families apart.