Too little being done for the refugees

The European Union and its allies are bidding to break up the gangs smuggling refugees from Turkey to Greece. Nato ships will patrol the Aegean Sea in response to requests from Germany, Greece and Turkey. The move sends a strong and long-overdue message of unity in the face of the immigration crisis – even if its value is little more than symbolic, given the scale of the problem. 

Solidarity in Europe is crucial at this juncture, with Western ideals of liberty and humanitarianism threatening to buckle under the weight of migrant numbers.

Nato’s mission in the Aegean is being billed as a humanitarian measure. More than 3,400 people have drowned in the past 14 months as they attempted to cross the sea to Europe. Many were children. The Greek navy and the EU border agency have been overwhelmed by this massive influx and the high death count.

This latest move to address the refugees’ safety comes amid growing public dismay at the seemingly endless tragedies befalling those fleeing war and poverty in search of peace and prosperity. The growing level of concern among ordinary Europeans is matched by frustration at the political level. 

Turkey’s president, Recep Erdogan, has threatened to send on millions of refugees to Europe even as his country is under pressure to take in more. Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s approval rating has plummeted as more and more citizens question the merit of her open-door policy. Greece is facing heavy criticism from fellow EU members for failing to properly register more than 800,000 asylum-seekers who arrived there last year. It also stands accused of permitting the refugees to proceed north into the European heartland.

EU procedures require that refugees and asylum-seekers be processed at their point of entry, which for most is Greece. But with an economy in the red and its citizens already livid over austerity measures, Greece needs more support in coping with migrants landing on its shores at a rate of almost 2,000 a day. So far its European partners have not done enough to help.

If EU members expect Turkey and Greece to shoulder such a heavy burden, they must live up to their own obligations. Europe has yet to pay Turkey the 3 billion euros (Bt119 million) it pledged to help curb the flow of refugees into Europe.

At the same time, France’s rejection of a quota system proposed by Germany for taking in refugees has sent the wrong signal concerning shared responsibility. The quota system would have benefited 160,000 asylum-seekers currently waiting to move on from Greece and Italy.

Given the enormous challenges, it is hard to imagine how Nato ships can do much good. The naval deployment is a far cry from being an effective and united response to this ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.

The ideals of unity and rationalism born in Europe have spread and flourished around the world. Today’s Europeans must work harder to uphold the principles on which the EU was founded.