Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ANCA GAVRILITA

Course: Writing & Communication Skills, 2016-2017 (Group 72)

EUROPEAN NON-UNION

Thesis: The refugee crisis threatens the unity of Europe by reviving nationalist feelings and
increasing racial profiling.

In the past few years, the nature of migration has changed: the extreme poverty and the resulting
search for better standards of living joined the necessity to save ones own life, seriously threatened
by civil wars, ethnic clashes, ideological and political persecutions.

The European refugee crisis began in 2015 when many asylum seekers came to Europe from Western,
South Asia, Africa and Western Balkans countries. According to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the top three nationalities of these asylum seekers between
January 2015 and March 2016 were Syrian (46,7%), Afghan (20,9%) and Iraqi (9,4%); 58% of these
were men, 17% women and 25% children1.

The change in the migrants profile put Europe in front of important and difficult decisions,
considering that different elements had to be taken into consideration: on one hand, those deriving
from international law, European Community regulations and Constitutions of the various Member
States, which required the them to provide hospitality; on the other hand, those of the national
communities, which were experiencing the increasing migratory pressure as a threat to their security
and the preservation of their own identity.

The continuous increase of the migratory flow resulted in conflicting opinions between the member
states bringing the eastern European countries to be more keen on closing the borders. Among the
consequences of a problem that was not faced in the right way there can be found: the increasing
popularity of nationalist political parties, the creation of walls to block refugees from entering a
country and the resurrection of violent behaviors, racism and fear of the migrant seen as a dangerous
terrorist.

1
UNHCR, Figures at a glance, 2015. Available at: http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ANCA GAVRILITA
Course: Writing & Communication Skills, 2016-2017 (Group 72)

The first element that emerged when the refugee crisis started to be a real issue was the conservative
behavior of the Eastern European countries. In particular, the Visegrd Group2, id est Czech Republic,
Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, went against the universal civil principles evoked by Angela Merkel
as an indispensable link between the European Union countries, when they refused to host migrants
leaving their origin homes to save their own lives. The main reason why Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and
Hungarians rejected asylum-seekers and appeared heartless to the rest of the world, increasing their
distance from the other EU members, was due to the fact that they actually refused the idea of a
multicultural society3. These countries joined the European Union because they wanted to exploit the
economic benefits that it was offering but they never agreed to become one multicultural society. On
the contrary, considering their historical background, and the fact that they reached an ethnical
homogeneity rather recently and that they had to fight for it could be easy so understand that for them
that homogeneity was a conquest of which they were very proud and they did not intend to renounce
to it by accepting refugees of so many different nationalities.

Unfortunately, Eastern countries were not the only ones that adopted a conservative policy by wanting
to close their borders. In fact, nowadays, people from all over Europe are starting to have many
prejudices against the diverse: they think that migrants are actually disguised terrorists and they blame
everyone for an individuals actions. What is worse, is that this fear of being invaded and unsafe
makes their minds have lots of inconsistencies. As an example one should consider the Charlie Hebdo
victims and the Amatrices earthquake victims: When terrorists carried out the attack at Charlie
Hebdo because their magazine made fun of their prophet, everyone agreed with its freedom of press,
blaming the Muslims for not having sense of humor. When the same magazine published a sketch of
Amatrices earthquake victims, indicating that there were so many deaths because the buildings were
not constructed by following safety norms and assuming also mafias involvement in this, everyone
was shocked and blamed Charlie Hebdo for being insensitive. One could ask: how could this people
lose their sense of humor now? Are some deaths more important than others?

In someones opinion the answer to this question is yes. This someone could be identified with
the increasing visibility of radical political parties in each European (and non) country, that exploit

2
The Economist, Big, Bad Visegrad, 2016. Available at: http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21689629-
migration-crisis-has-given-unsettling-new-direction-old-alliance-big-bad-visegrad

3
Valli, La societ multietnica che divide lEuropa, 2015. Available at:
http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2015/09/07/news/la_societa_multietnica_che_divide_l_europa_ecco_perche_l_est_n
on_vuole_i_migranti-122384672/
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ANCA GAVRILITA
Course: Writing & Communication Skills, 2016-2017 (Group 72)

the refugee crisis to gain power by feeding on peoples fears.4 Examples of these political parties
could be: Front National with Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, La Lega with Salvini in Italy and Ukip
in U.K. Regarding the United Kingdom and the Brexit referendum, the whole campaign was built
on racist and misleading information and the fact that the leavers actually won says many things
about the current situation in Europe: what once was a stunning country thanks to its successful
integration and symbol of so many mixed cultures living together, nowadays is just an unpleasant
reflection of a painting containing the ugliest and darkest parts of humanity.

A humanity that is each day more divided: divided by feelings, by beliefs and now by walls too5.
Walls created by Great Britain, France and Hungary, for instance, with the only purpose of separating
more and more and more One should ask: is the EU going to follow the same path? Which will be
the consequences of this actions of closure?

Questions with no answers at the moment and maybe with no need to actually answer them. It would
be enough to just stop focusing on the problems and start looking for opportunities; to fight racism
with unity, sharing and empathy; to look at the future together and to understand that the strength is
in the union and that the path that is currently being followed by so many countries will lead to a
European NON Union, composed by sad, selfish men divided one from another by walls of hatred
and malignity.

4
Nick Robins, How the refugee crisis is fueling the rise of Europes right, 2015. Available at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/europe-right-wing-refugees_us_562e9e64e4b06317990f1922

5
Sebastiano Malamocco, LEuropa che costruisce muri, 2015. Available at:
https://geograficamente.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/leuropa-che-costruisce-muri-contro-le-migrazioni-sud-nord-
risposta-alle-paure-e-al-populismo-con-politiche-di-chiusura-i-nuovo-muri-abbattuti-quelli-in-uscita-berlino/
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ANCA GAVRILITA
Course: Writing & Communication Skills, 2016-2017 (Group 72)

REFERENCES:

UNHCR, Figures at a glance, 2015. Available at: http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html

The Economist, Big, Bad Visegrad, 2016. Available at:

http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21689629-migration-crisis-has-given-unsettling-new-
direction-old-alliance-big-bad-visegrad

Valli, La societ multietnica che divide lEuropa, 2015. Available at:

http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2015/09/07/news/la_societa_multietnica_che_divide_l_europa_ecco
_perche_l_est_non_vuole_i_migranti-122384672/

Nick Robins, How the refugee crisis is fueling the rise of Europes right, 2015. Available at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/europe-right-wing-refugees_us_562e9e64e4b06317990f1922

Sebastiano Malamocco, LEuropa che costruisce muri, 2015. Available at:

https://geograficamente.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/leuropa-che-costruisce-muri-contro-le-
migrazioni-sud-nord-risposta-alle-paure-e-al-populismo-con-politiche-di-chiusura-i-nuovo-muri-
abbattuti-quelli-in-uscita-berlino/

Wikipedia, La crisi europea dei migranti. Available at:

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisi_europea_dei_migranti

European Commission, Refugee crisis in Europe, 2016. Available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/echo/refugee-crisis_en