The European Union has always been a champion of human rights. When a country needs aid for its people, the EU is usually one of the first to respond. The group as a coalition can do so much together. With the most improved infrastructure, third-largest economy, primarily made up of NATO, and the second-largest bloc on the planet, the EU is the standard. But internally, there is one issue that the bloc just can’t seem to figure out. That issue is migration.
For years, European States were allowing migrants to come in large waves to help keep up with the demand for unskilled workers. The EU has championed the one European Passport which allows all citizens to travel freely for work, leisure, and family. This revolutionary work has still yet to be mimicked. But in 2014, Europe’s mountains tumbled. The Syrian crisis showed the cracks in the system, and how fragile the EU was. Member states started to deny migrants because of national sovereignty. The migrant crisis was the main reason Brexit even occurred. Now, because of current coups in Africa and violence in southeast Asia, Europe is looking at another wave of migrants.
In 2023 of this year, Italy itself has seen over 130,000 migrants enter the country. 7.5 million refugees have entered the continent in 2023 because of the war in Ukraine and other crises like the Sudan civil war. The influx of refugees is again creating issues for the union. This year the EU created a new framework allowing member states to move migrants to a “third party country” if the member state cannot intake the migrant. Member states tend to become overloaded, especially those on the coasts and the east. When the Syrians started to migrate, Germany was the most willing to take on refugees, taking over a million. Now, fewer member states are willing to take on that many refugees.
The Mediterranean is a dangerous water to cross with full boats. Since 2014, 27,000 migrants have either died or gone missing crossing the Mediterranean. The EU has done relatively little to solve these issues. So how can the EU take in more migrants and protect them from crossing?
There are two sides to this coin. To have some member states like Hungary or Poland to take in migrants, there must be incentives. Those incentives can include tax incentives or trade incentives. Member states will be much more willing to take migrants with incentives. The next issue is getting the migrants to the borders. In order to protect migrants, member states can work with nonprofits that assist migrants and lend more ships to safely assist migrants to their borders.
Will the EU be able to approve these measures? Most likely not. Conservative member states will not want to take in migrants at all with the voter base currently at their feet. So can the migrant crisis be fixed? For the near future, the odds seem to say no.
Author: Joshua Cheatham
