In the aftermath of the United Kingdom opting to leave the European Union, one fundamental concern on the European plateau has been the constant ballooning refugee crisis. The crisis has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks, which happened because European citizens who had carried out the attacks could travel from one European country to another.
As nations continue to battle with recession, there is also a greater reluctance to take in so much people aboard because a state begins to feel very unfairly burdened. There needs to be an end in sight for the refugee crisis as such, as millions go from Libya to Italy and also the Schengen agreement needs to be protected because this crisis is seemingly posing like it could act as a catalyst to it’s potential demise.
The Schengen agreement has been covering most European states, since 1995 but what the problem is that many refugees simply come to Europe from their conflicted countries, which stretch from Africa to the Middle East, and then look to settle in richer European nations than Greece, such as Germany; Italy, for it’s part, is simply not doing enough to prevent refugees from doing so when they turn up to it’s shores.
Following a deal between the European Union and Turkey, promises of visa-free travel for Turkish people have already been exchanged between Turkey and the European Union, which is a welcome move. It would be wise to comprehend that in such times, as a result, that the disappearance of the Schengen is not going to solve any of the refugee problems actually but instead it might just heighten the problems; for a start, the demise of the Schengen seems like it would be a step backward from progress over free travel across the European continent.
Many EU member states continue to pronounce an outright disinterest in participating in conflict-ending in nations, such as Libya and Syria, so the refugee numbers keep escalating. Furthermore, when refugees come to Italy because of the conflicts happening in their land, there is absolutely no way for the EU to send them back to Libya.
There needs to be a strict ideology in place, which can demonstrate that such increasing numbers of refugees cannot simply come to European shores and take advantage of the chaos at Schengen borders. In times of recession, keeping the Schengen instead of opting for singular security mechanisms acting state by state for Europe could feed the recession further rather than work the opposite way.
If refugees could also safely be returned home, and no loopholes in assistance exist, for example, as to why some refugees’ home states do not issue them travel documents to return back from Europe in the first place, then the risks that Schengen is now facing will be cut significantly.
Meanwhile, Serbia and Macedonia amongst others sealed off their borders totally for new migrants early last year, as border controls get propped up all across Europe, from France to Denmark. So, there is great hope that the refugee crisis in Europe will reach a peaceful end soon because the sooner that happens the better because then each European state can get back to focusing on effectively protecting it’s states’ borders.
