The leaders of France, historically the host country for expatriates, is apparently finished walking a line between political correctness and national security. For his part, Prime Minister Manuel Valls says the EU could ‘die’ if it fails to secure its borders in the face of the ongoing refugee crisis. Valls told the BBC that the EU is in “very grave danger” of an imminent downfall from extremism and social pressures brought about by migrants heading to the Continent through porous unprotected borders. France has the largest per capita population of Muslims in Western Europe.
The stark warning comes on the heels of the recent Paris massacre during which the stadium where French President Francois Hollande himself was targeted by Muslim extremists as he watched footballers from a Paris stadium. Valls says the Schengen Agreement, which allows people to travel freely throughout the EU without showing their passports, could collapse under the mounting pressure of uncontrolled immigration, according to an article published today in The Telegraph newspaper. The remarks intensify the political chaos throughout Europe over how to deal with the estimated 2,000 migrants arriving in the EU every day. While many are fleeing the Syrian war, others are crossing the Mediterranean from Africa.
The unbridled tension over immigration between European leaders comes as the refugee crisis threatens to overshadow Britain’s renegotiations at an EU council meeting next month. Mr. Cameron of the UK is pushing a membership reform package which could be held hostage to Europe’s immigration crisis.
The sheer number of immigrants steadily crossing European borders is changing the order of assimilation in European countries. Still, those on the left continue to politely deny the Paris attacks had much of anything to do with immigration or Islam, a slant that’s becoming harder to sell in politics. Since the 2005 largely Muslim uprising in Paris, some of the Paris suburbs are “no go” zones, even for police. Chaos within governments throughout the Middle East and the gruesome civil war in Syria have dampened any hopes of quick solutions.
Mr Valls, during a BBC interview, said the “the Schengen era may die” from uncontrolled migration and went on to say Europe itself was in grave danger. “No it’s Europe that can die, not the Schengen area. If Europe is not capable of protecting its own borders, it’s the very idea of Europe that will be questioned…the European project [is at threat], not Europe as much. Not our values, but the concept of Europe that our founding fathers had, yes, it is in very grave danger,” he added.
“That’s why you need border guards and controls outside the European Union. Sometimes we had the feeling that borders did not exist. No, borders do exist so you have to protect them.”
