Schengen area and Freedom for Europeans being put to the test as never before

Are Steven Erlanger and James Kanter from the NYTimes putting the finger at our Western sore wound?

European Union (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One must be ‘blind and deaf’ if one does not come to understand that the refugee crisis has tested the limits of Europe’s ability to forge consensus on one of the most divisive issues to confront the union since the fall of Communism.

For the N.Y. Times writers it has set right-wing nationalist and populist politicians against Pan-European humanitarians, who have portrayed the crisis in stark moral terms.

We may not expect too much from today’s meeting of the leaders from across the 28-member bloc were the last few weeks we have not seen much solidarity with each other nor much empathy for those poor people who are trying to safe their soul.

Jean Asselborn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, said after a meeting of home affairs and interior ministers that even countries that voted against the distribution of asylum seekers — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia — must comply.

“I have no doubt they will implement these decisions fully,”

he said.

the N.Y.Times has good reason to say

The European Union’s reputation, and its faith in Brussels, have suffered in the past few months, with sharp and vocal divisions among member states and continuing doubts about Greek economic sustainability.

For Stefano Stefanini, a former senior Italian ambassador now based in Brussels, the migrant crisis

“risks bursting the E.U. at its weak seams”

“It’s more dangerous than the Greek drama and more serious than the euro, because it challenges fundamental European accomplishments and beliefs.”

With Tuesday’s vote, he said,

“the cleavages only get deeper.”

We as Europeans should look in our own bosom and consider what we really want to do and in what we do want to belief.

The pessimistic representation by the American writers is very logical when you see how the freedom of human being is being limited and how freedom of movement within the borderless, passport-free zone known as the Schengen area is getting into the dangerzone of being in order to be lifted.

As with the euro, borderless travel was pushed ahead by the European Union as an essentially political idea, without Brussels having created the rules and institutions capable of coherently maintaining and enforcing it.

And as with the euro, the chaos over the refugees has raised questions about not only how the European Union functions but what it stands for, not least its aspirations to balance justice and security.

Steven Erlanger and James Kanter write.

When European Union leaders say that

“we as Europeans are currently not able to manage our common external borders”

than this community has a very serious problem.

A Europe

“defined by a beggar-my-neighbor race to the bottom was precisely what the E.U. was created to prevent,”

said David Miliband, a former British foreign minister and now director of the International Rescue Committee, a nongovernmental agency that helps refugees.

“If the E.U. is incompetent, compassion is not enough.”

Please let us take European Parliament president Martin Schulz his words at heart and be careful not to take the worn road-bent with the knowledge that a

“deeper split of the union is a risk we cannot exclude”.

Read more about it:Plan on Migrants Strains the Limits of Europe’s Unity

 

Migrants rested and registered at a camp in Opatovac, Croatia, on Tuesday. Credit Marko Djurica/Reuters

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Preceding:

Are people willing to take the responsibility for others

If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for

State of Europe 2015 – Addressing Europe’s crises

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Further on the refugees and actions undertaken

1. Members of Aalborg Symphony Orchestra to play benefit concert for refugees this Sunday
2. Syrian girl: 8 Reasons Why The NWO Hates Syria! Global Domination!”
3. We’ve got your back…
4. A (small) step in the right direction
5. Wolves Among the Sheep
6. How Is Immigration Viewed In The EU?
7. European ministers agree to relocate 120,000 refugees, but political divide persists
8. Toronto students pitch in to help Syrian refugees
9. ‘We’re desperately trying to get them out’: Church group struggles to bring Syrian refugees to Canada
10. Syria’s Assad Blames West For Refugee Crisis
11. The Syrian Crisis: A three-pronged strategy for Canada
12. A devil said so…
13. Croatia Closes Border Crossings with Serbia
14. Urgent Need: Call Congress and Change Lives
15. Emergency Thinking
16. Why We Need the Refugees
17. Faith and Humanity
18. “Tightening of borders could destabilise European growth” warns finance specialist AES International
19. Mere Fidelity: What to do with Refugees?
20. ‘Canada saved 7 people’s lives:’ Saskatoon home to Syrian refugees
21. The Waiting
22. The Refugee Crisis
23. Refugee Crisis: Crossing The Border To Germany (Part 2)
24. Refugee Crisis: The Road To Germany (Part 1)
25. Letter to a Non-Christian Nation
26. Refugee Crisis Terrorists & Militia Posing As Refugees
27. Christians say Syrian refugee crisis could affect how they vote in federal election
28. The Migrant Crisis: What Can I do?
29. BBC Presenter Disregards & Slanders Callers – Migrant Crisis
30. Rolling out the Welcome Wagon to the Enemy…
31. A view from Austria. Refuge
32. Border Stories … the questions in a crisis
33. Could Europe’s Refugee Influx Trigger a Shift Towards Leaner Urban Policies?
34. True Compassion
35. See Photos from the Chaos of Europe’s New Refugee Trail
36. Refugees to Come to the United States
37. McDonald’s supports struggling U.N. effort to feed Syrian refugees
38. Is xenophobia the new antisemitism?
39. My two cents on the refugee crisis
40. Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones
41. Donating to Refugees in Traiskirchen
42. Kerry: US to accept 85,000 refugees in 2016, 100,000 in 2017
43. Do China’s ghost cities offer a solution to Europe’s migrant crisis?
44. The Refugee Crisis🚨
45. Dear Aylan: A Poem on the Human Tragedy of the Refugee Crisis
46. Justin Trudeau says he would consider airlifting refugees from Syria
47. Mixed Feelings | Week 3
48. Refugees are welcome here!
49. The History Girls: Orderly and Humane – Celia Rees
50. The Evening Post: Understanding The Refugee Crisis In Europe, Syria, And Around The World
51. For One Minnesota Man, Crisis In Syria Hits Close To Home
52. Train Cancellations
53. Israeli leaders delight in Europe’s cruelty toward refugees
54. Refugees At The Border- A Blessing Or Burden?
55. Twitter Feed Lures Hordes to Europe
56. The World Wide Refugee and Migrant Crisis and a possible solution for it
57. Church of Ireland Parishes in Cork, Cloyne and Ross begin to Mobilise in Response to Refugee Crisis
58. Poster: Please Help The Refugees
59. Reality Check: Are refugees an economic burden?
60. Europe and the joke of reverse colonialism
61. Other three-year olds
62. Westmount synagogue sponsors Syrian refugee family
63. To the Families in Boats Tonight
64. Report from a Besieged World: Refugee Crisis Devolving into Chaos
65. Egyptian billionaire says he is deciding between 2 Greek islands to buy for refugees
66. TIFF 2015: Stars discuss migrant crisis as films reflect refugee issues
67. Why Russia backs Assad: a view from Russia’s anti-imperialist left
68. See the True Scale of Europe’s Refugee Crisis in One Photo
69. Hungary Oppressed Press Freedom over the Border Crackdown on Refugees
70. Loss of humanity
71. The Vatican Takes in Family of Syrian Refugees
72. If All Cultures Are Equal, Why Are Millions Of Refugees Fleeing The Thoroughly Islamic Middle East?
73. Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity?
74. What do you get if you cross Christianity with…? Answer the response of many to the present refugee crisis!
75. When disruption becomes tangible – stories from a train station. Europe September 2015.
76. More Syrian asylum-seekers getting OK to stay in Canada
77. The refugee exodus into Europe: a preventable crisis and the inevitable demographic
78. How is the migration crisis affecting you? A view from Britain
79. Border stories … thoughts on refugees
80. Europe’s refugees just follow the ancient routes for the peopling of Europe in the Neolithic revolution

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