Migrant crisis haunts European Union

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel won accolades for her stunning call on September 4, 2015 to keep open Germany’s doors to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, many fleeing war-torn Syria or Iraq.

Three years on, scenes of far-right protesters chasing down foreigners in a German city have shocked the world. All of Europe has seen a sea-change since the migration crisis erupted.

Britain is now just months away from quitting the European Union, the far-right is sharing power in both Italy and Austria, while right-wing extremist group AfD has become the biggest opposition party in Germany’s parliament.

If there is a common denominator for these upheavals in European politics, it is the migration crisis seized upon by pro-Brexiters and far-right forces across Europe as the public enemy in their campaigns.

Despite her "we can do it" rally cry, Merkel has since agreed to toughening restrictions to curb new arrivals, while the EU as a bloc is seeking to stop migrants landing on its soil. In Germany, which recorded 745,545 asylum applications in 2016, just 93,316 were registered for the first half of this year.

Some headway also appears to have been made on integration. One in four asylum seekers who arrived in Germany since 2015 have since found work, according to data released in May by the employment ministry’s think-tank IAB.

Nevertheless, "migration remains the biggest challenge" for the bloc, noted Stefan Lehne, visiting professor at Carnegie Europe. "While the numbers of arrivals are down, the hysteria is up, as populist movements and a growing number of mainstream politicians are building their business model on anti-migration sentiments."

In the most recent illustration of the deep-seated resentment against newcomers, hundreds of mostly white men gathered swiftly in the eastern German city of Chemnitz, some attacking foreign-looking people, after news circulated that a German man was stabbed to death last Sunday, allegedly by an Iraqi and a Syrian.

Across the Atlantic, US President Donald Trump in June also poured fuel on the burning topic: "Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!"