MaltaToday previous editions

MT 6 September 2015

Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/567101

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 24 of 55

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2015 Opinion 25 like Syria (home to thousands now fleeing towards Europe) without also 'involving' oneself in its internal conflict? Admittedly these are not easy questions to answer. Military intervention would almost certainly exacerbate this crisis in the short- term. But as things stand, Europe is not even talking about a long- term solution at all… in fact it talks of nothing but the need to build higher walls to fence itself in. Even from a logistical perspective, Europe has failed to meet expectations of even the most fundamental kind. There has practically never been a war or conflict on this planet that did not result in an immediate refugee crisis of the kind we are now experiencing. And yet this perfectly predictable wave of refugees from Syria – where civil war has been raging for four years – seems to have taken the whole of Europe by surprise. Even now that the death toll has reached utterly unacceptable levels, there has been no acknowledgement that Europe's asylum infrastructure is not up to the task. We still cling to hopelessly outdated treaties such as Dublin II – about which Malta has complained for years, and now Germany has started grumbling, too – that were devised to accommodate an entirely dissimilar, incomparable 'immigration' scenario. Why has Europe's asylum procedure not been updated to reflect the new reality? For much the same reason that Europe would rather destroy itself altogether than adopt a common approach to a common problem. Individual member states cannot agree on new procedures, because – despite the so-called 'unity' of the EU – their own national interests invariably come first, and these interests are intrinsically different across the 28 member states. Despite all the treaties and 'acquis comunautaires' that supposedly unite us, in reality the EU is nothing more than a collection of squabbling, unfriendly countries: each sweeping the dust from its backyard onto its neighbour's… then complaining when its neighbours do the same. What makes the EU's approach to this issue so self-destructive, however, is the fact that its internal chaos does not reflect broader European opinion on the same issue. I won't go into the merits of whether it is 'ideal' for world opinion to be so dramatically skewed in any direction by a single image – speaking for myself, I try (often unsuccessfully) to avoid the kind of emotional entanglement that provokes instant outrage or revulsion, if only because it tends to distort the discussion. But I'll admit it's not exactly easy when confronted with the image of a dead three-year-old child lying face-down in the sand. Even if, at heart, I know it to be but one isolated instance of a chilling reality gripping large parts of the world today – where millions of children die every day due to war, disease, famine and poverty – I can still acknowledge the power of a single image to play the part of a game- changer in any debate. In this case, the part of the game that has arguably changed concerns the public's perception of the crisis. Admittedly I can't substantiate this impression with exhaustive evidence; but there are indications of a widespread double-take at popular level. This week some 20,000 protested in solidarity with asylum seekers in Vienna, while similar protests were held in various other European cities. In the UK, a petition to increase the intake of refugees attracted 200,000 signatures in a space of a few hours. Here in Malta, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station reported a 15-fold increase in international donations after that single photo went viral. This may not add up to a seismic shift in European or world public opinion; but it does cement the view that it is not just the rabid anti-immigrants of the far right who are deeply concerned about the issue. And yet, European governments remain steadfastly out of tune with the shifting trends of popular mood. People look from the harrowing image of that little boy on their PC monitor, to the people they once entrusted to administer European policy as a whole… then shake their heads in disbelief, as their governments doggedly insist on the same old failed policies, even in the face of unthinkable loss of life. And what are these policies, anyway? The French Interior Minister, quoted above, gives us a pretty clear indication. "The Schengen rules must be respected," he said when turning back 6,000 refugees to Italy (a country which had taken in tens of thousands that same year). And we got the same overall drift from the European Union's 'action plan', too… which naturally prioritised the 'control of Europe's borders', at a time when corpses were washing up all over the Mediterranean. I suspect this in part accounts for the sheer revulsion that photo so evidently inspired. It illustrates the unbridgeable gulf that now separates European politics from even the most basic requirements of humanity. Little children are drowning at sea and washing up dead on our beaches… and the only concern expressed by European governments is to 'strengthen their borders'? What do 'borders' and 'border policies' mean to little children, anyway? How are they expected to understand that, by crossing into Europe, they will suddenly be in breach of some obscure paragraph in some obsolete EU treaty that most Europeans don't even know exist? This, more than any financial crisis, is what I think will ultimately unravel the European Union in the end. There is a growing, gaping dissonance between what this obscure political entity actually stands for, and what actually concerns its 500 million citizens… the vast majority of whom is infinitely more humane than the tiny fraction whose antisocial views tend to dominate the media. A point will come – and to some of us it came a while ago – when people will question the need for a colossal, supra-national bureaucratic institution such as the European Union… when this institution always proves perfectly useless when it comes to addressing serious issues. And besides, if each country is ultimately alone when dealing with its own 'salade'… what's the point in remaining members of a 'Union'? We would all be in exactly the same boat (ahem) if the EU suddenly ceased to exist. If anything, the ability of individual countries to do something useful might actually increase: they would no longer be shackled by systemically flawed treaties, and constrained by EU regulations which fail to actually 'regulate' when the need arises. So ironically, the scaremongering of the anti-immigration lobby may well come to fruition in the end, even if for very different reasons. It is true that Europe's future existence is 'threatened' by the refugee crisis. But this 'threat' does not come from any refugees. It comes from Europe itself; in particular, from its inability to ever converge on a single purpose… even when that purpose involves fulfilling the single most fundamental requirement of any civilised society. Europe… but not how most people think Even today, with three-year old toddlers washing up on its beaches, the European Union seems spectacularly incapable of acting in any 'unified' way. And this incapacity for action manifests itself at all levels *The loan is subject to the Bank's lending criteria. A typical example is based on a loan of ¤10,000 repayable through monthly instalments of ¤146.44 over a period of 7 years at a variable interest rate of 5.99% p.a. Loan is subject to an administration fee of 4% on the monthly instalment. The total sum payable throughout the term of the loan is ¤12,792.71, with an APR of 7.86% p.a. 'Personal Loans Plus Protection' incorporate an insurance cover that protects clients in case of accidental death, temporary or permanent total disablement or redundancy. Banif Bank (Malta) plc shall be the policy holder. Details relating to the policy are available on the Bank's website (banif.com.mt). Banif Bank (Malta) plc is a credit institution licensed to undertake the business of banking by the MFSA in terms of the Banking Act 1994. Registered in Malta C41030 – 203, Level 2, Rue D'Argens, Gzira, GZR 1368, Malta. PERSONAL LOAN BELIEVE: THE TIME TO UPGRADE IS NOW * PERSONAL LOANS PLUS PROTECTION p.a.

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of MaltaToday previous editions - MT 6 September 2015