European Policy Analysis Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2016 | Page 11

European Policy Analysis

2) For securing the outer borders of
Europe, the members of the EU had
many problems with Greece and
Turkey, and also with some East
European countries, especially Poland.
There is the hope of some politicians
that if Britain pulls out, the rules of
the EU will be changed into more rigid
provisions.

are especially important in the case
of African refugees, since not only
colonialism but also recent dominance
of Western economies, which weakened
African economic performance, has to
be changed.
5) Allaying the civil war in Syria led
first to new cooperation between
Russia and the West. But soon the
conflict of whether Assad should be
accepted as the President of Syria
and the Russian bombs against other
oppositional forces fighting Assad led
to new disagreements. It is becoming
increasingly clear that the civil war
cannot be ended by bombs, and even
the direct intervention of Western
troops on the ground would create
new hostilities among the populations
in the Near East. But there is no visible
coalition of IS, especially since new
hostilities between Iran and Saudi
Arabia began after the attack on the
Saudi Embassy in Teheran.

3) The distribution of refugees among the
members of the EU does not function at
all. The German Chancellor, Merkel,
has alienated many EU members by her
optimism and the slogan “We’ll make
it.” These goals were honorable but not
at all negotiated with the neighbors
of Germany. Poland and other East
European members accept only tiny
numbers of refugees. Poland even
wants to restrict this to “Christians”—a
position not in tune with European
democratic values. Even the distribution
of refugees among the German Laender
is already quite difficult, and the Federal
State has many quarrels with Bavaria
with regard to various forms of refugee
Recently, integration policies in
policies.
many European countries have improved,
but they nevertheless suffer from
4) Fighting against the military incompatible developments that include:
and economic causes of emigration
is certainly the most complicated
1) The closing of borders for refugees
task. Cooperation in bombarding
in many European countries, even in
strongholds of the IS remains highly
Sweden, which so far had accepted
controversial even in Germany which
the highest number of immigrants
did not follow the United States, Britain,
in proportion to its own population.
and France in direct military attacks on
An unofficial “Nordic competition”
IS strongholds in Syria. Germany did
has asked: Which of the Scandinavian
not contribute to the Iraq War but had
countries is creating the most
to accept negative consequences of its
unattractive conditions for refugees?
participation in Afghanistan which even
(Wys suwa 2016, 2). The European
after the declaration of the withdrawal
Community tries to mitigate the
of troops led to new cumbersome
differences, but it failed in the case of
commitments. The economic causes
Hungary, a country that even renounced
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