Europe Is Being Flooded with Refugees

German Chancellor Merkel has good reason seek a Realpolitik solution with Turkey to ameliorate Europe's refugee wave. ~~~~~ Half a million asylum seekers have arrived in Greece this year, most by boat on Aegean island beaches -- 8,000 people arrived on Monday, bringing the total number to 502,500, the UNHCR refugee agency says. The total number of arrivals in Europe via the Mediterranean is over 643,000 this year. ~~~~~ Now, thousands of refugees are stuck on the northern Serbian border in cold wet weather, prompting complaints by aid agencies. So on Monday, Slovenia admitted 5,000 migrants from Serbia, despite previously saying it would take no more than 2,500 a day. But, Slovenia’s parliament is expected to approve the use of its army to manage the flow of migrants entering the tiny former Yugoslav republic, a change in the army's mission that will remain in effect for three months. Officials say 18,469 migrants have entered Slovenia since last Friday, with 5,092 people crossing the border yesterday. The migrants entering from Croatia are overwhelming the country, Prime Minister Miro Cerar said : “It is wrong to foster the illusion that it is possible for a small nation of two million people to stop, solve, and rectify a situation where even much bigger EU member states have failed.” Croatia also let in 3,000 people from Serbia yesterday, despite previously announcing a border crackdown. ~~~~~ Central European countries trade blame for the refugee bottleneck in Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans. Slovenia says Croatia ignored its quotas and is transporting large groups of people to its border. Croatian officials say Slovenia has often changed the number of migrants it says it is willing to accept, and accuses Greece of not doing enough to slow the flood of people entering Europe. Hungary blames everyone. ~~~~~ The problem is the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the fighting in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. They hope to reach Germany and other EU countries whose governments have been open to receiving them. It is the worst European migrant and refugee crisis since World War II. ~~~~~ Monday, thousands of marchers in Dresden protested against Germany's open-door refugee policy. The march was organized by the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida), to mark the one-year anniversary of the anti-Islam movement. The demonstrators chanted slogans against German chancellor Angela Merkel before the march turned violent. Placards included "Money for our children instead of money for your asylum seekers." Crowds also shouted "Merkel has to go." German authorities reported clashes with a counter-march, with one Pegida supporter seriously injured. On Sunday, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told public broadcaster ARD that Pegida's leadership are "hard far-right extremists." Merkel has in the past described Pegida leaders as having "prejudice, coldness, even hatred in their hearts." At its height, Pegida attracted over 25,000 people. Organisers say around 40,000 showed up on Monday. Others say the figure is between 15,000 and 19,000. The movement had shrunk, but it is growing again after the German government said it expects 1 million asylum seekers this year. Violence against refugees and people supporting them in Germany has unsettled authorities. In August, protesters from the militant National Democratic Party (NPD) threw rocks at buses of arriving refugees in a town near Dresden. Last weekend, a pro-refugee candidate for the mayor of Cologne was stabbed in the neck prior to her election victory. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Europe has been overwhelmed by the number of migrants at its door. Merkel and other EU leaders look to Turkey to control the refugee flow. Merkel's pledge to advance Turkey’s long-delayed bid to join the EU in return for cooperation in dealing with the unprecedented refugee crisis may be her last card before closing EU external borders. And there are 12 million internally displaced Syrians trying to get out. How could the EU ever handle them? Or Turkey, for that matter?