Refugee Crisis Pushes Europe to the Brink
The EU is a major disappointment in 2015 and 2016. Sometimes we forget: it&#x27;s the largest economy in the world, home to some of the richest countries, the biggest political bloc, it&#x27;s home to 500 million decently educated people, and a strong set of institutions and infrastructure.<p>And what is it faced with? An influx of 2-3 million people in about 2-3 years, a population growth of roughly half a percent spread out over a few years. Most of them from Syria, a country which 5 years ago was on the whole a reasonably decent place on par with countries like Moldova which is on track to join the EU, and close to Bulgaria which already has joined the EU. These refugees can have a sustainable place in Europe.<p>Yet Europe&#x27;s being &#x27;pushed to the brink&#x27;, not for lack of resources... Europe has all the resources and the size to deal with what is, in the grand scheme of things (or in comparison with some actually major challenges in Europe&#x27;s history, like say a world war) completely and utterly infinitesimal. But there&#x27;s a complete failure of sensible vision and policy, politically Europe has failed on this topic in a way I wouldn&#x27;t have predicted if you&#x27;d told me the numbers of the refugee crisis in 2010 and asked me if I thought whether we could deal with it in a proper manner, I&#x27;d have said yes. It looks like we&#x27;re being ruled by fear and any political union that may have existed seems to rapidly disintegrate.