Amid all the presidential campaign rhetoric about border security, it’s easy for Americans to forget that some nations have bigger problems than we do. Uninvited foreigners have been pouring into Europe for more than a year, producing the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. It has strained budgets and facilities, inflamed xenophobia and evoked fear of terrorist infiltrators.
Amid all the presidential campaign rhetoric about border security, it’s easy for Americans to forget that some nations have bigger problems than we do. Uninvited foreigners have been pouring into Europe for more than a year, producing the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. It has strained budgets and facilities, inflamed xenophobia and evoked fear of terrorist infiltrators.
This past weekend, the European Union and Turkey inaugurated a program that they hoped would be a big step to handling the problem. It’s not perfect, but it looks like the best of some bad options.
Then came the terror attacks in Brussels, unleashing new European opposition not only to immigrants who’ve already arrived, but also to those who aspire to come.
The horrific war in Syria, which has been going on since 2011, has caused some 4.8 million people to flee in desperation. More than a million refugees arrived in Europe last year, the majority of them Syrians, and the pace did not let up with the start of 2016.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been extraordinarily accommodating, granting asylum to 300,000 applicants last year. She also has steadfastly refused to put a numerical limit on refugees Germany will accept. But in her country as well as others, popular resentment and fear have been a windfall for right-wing parties that want to keep out foreigners. Imagine how the Brussels bombings will intensify that public opposition.
Last week the EU, under pressure to gain control of the crisis, forged a deal with Turkey intended to ensure decent conditions for refugees who already arrived but also to deter new ones from making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea. Those who try to sneak into Greece from Turkey, a common practice, will be returned. For each Syrian whom Turkey takes back, the EU will resettle another one from those already in Turkey, up to a maximum of 72,000.
Turkey is also supposed to tighten security to block migrants trying to get from its territory into neighboring countries. In return, the EU will provide nearly $6.8 billion to Turkey, much of it to feed, clothe and house those living in its refugee camps. Turkey also got the EU to relax visa rules for its citizens — and to consider restarting talks on letting it join the EU. …
With luck and resolve, the recent cessation of hostilities agreed on in Syria will hold and pave the way to a negotiated settlement of the civil war, allowing people forced out to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. Until then, this agreement is sadly necessary — Brussels or no.
— Chicago Tribune