Although making no concrete announcements or taking no strong decisions,
\nGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on
\nWednesday appeared before the EU Parliament together. For many their joint
\naddress recalled the historic appearance of their predecessors Helmut Kohl and
\nFrancois Mitterand 26 years ago, who gave a momentous speech on the end of the
\nCold War. The difficult times back then are mirrored in the present-day growing
\nsocial unrest generated by the refugee crisis, the worst since the end of the
\nSecond World War, Angela Merkel pointed out. Europe is constantly being
\nchallenged. <\/p>\n
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Already shaken by the financial crisis, Europe is now facing a new
\nhumanitarian crisis caused by the massive flows of migrants fleeing countries
\nin the Middle East and Northern Africa. And the problems don’t stop here. The
\nvery purpose of the Schengen free-travel area is being called into question.
\nThe possibility of closing down Schengen space, along with breaking up the Euro
\ncould be the end of the European project. <\/p>\n
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EU Member States, however, tend to prefer solidarity to individual
\naction. Any attempt of saving yourself, or evading or warding off challenges by
\nyourself is an illusion, French president Fracois Hollande said in turn. He
\nbelieves the radical discourse of extremist groups is gaining more ground every
\nday and that nationalist attacks on Europe are tantamount to ‘total war’. Given
\nall these threats, only if it acts united, on the strength of its shared
\nvalues, will Europe be able to deal effectively with the refugee crisis,
\nHollande went on to say. <\/p>\n
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Migrants must be treated as human beings, not as an anonymous mass. Many
\nof them wish to become part of European societies, which must preserve their
\nrules, while migrants must abide by them, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also
\npointed out. The German official once again called for a fair distribution of
\nmigrants among all Member States. <\/p>\n
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Romania agreed to host over 4,000 refugees. US ambassador to NATO
\nDouglas Lute even suggested that Romania might contribute to finding a
\npolitical solution to the Syrian crisis, given that it still has a functioning
\nembassy in Damascus. So far, Europe cannot seem to grasp the extent of the
\ntragic conflicts in the Middle East and Northern Africa, which will have
\nconsequences, president Hollande said. Unless it takes appropriate action,
\nEurope will have to cope with these consequences. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande called for unity in the face of the refugee crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":65562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29269],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-65561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-refugee-crisis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n