For : maintaining Europe's place in the world

Abstract

‘Stopping migration’; ‘closing the borders’; ‘exiting the European Union’; ‘regaining the nation’s independence’; ‘protecting our identity’. From the UK Independence Party to France’s Front National, to the myriad nationalist, populist, and xenophobic movements flourishing across Europe, anti-immigration and anti-EU slogans go hand in hand. The ongoing relaying of facts about migration by the media indeed makes a great impression on European public opinion. Masses of forcibly displaced people cramming into the European neighbourhood; disorderly crowds moving across member states’ borders; would-be migrants stuck in some of the world’s most dangerous countries waiting for a passage to European shores; inoperative distinctions between economic migrants and refugees; the patent failure of international protection; the inability of the European Union to deal with migration-related tensions – the list goes on. In Europe, migration has become one of the most serious threats to the survival of the Union. But is it an external threat or an internal one, an attack from abroad by migrants, or one from within by politicians manipulating facts about migration?