Europe's refugee crisis is getting worse by the day.
Less than 24 hours after Germany announced it would impose border controls with Austria, followed promptly by the Czech Republic, Slovenia and now the Netherlands, German vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel predicted that as many as 1 million refugees may arrive by the end of the year as other nations moved to fortify their frontiers.
As Bloomberg notes, the revised prediction "underscored how quickly the numbers fleeing to Germany are spiraling upward. The official government estimate, released just a few weeks ago, is for roughly 800,000 in 2015, nearly four times the 2014 figure."
Felix Braz, the justice minister of Luxembourg, underscored the severity of the situation: "Of course, the idea is not to prolong this, but it’s a short-term measure that should be in place for as short a time as possible,” “A lot will depend on what comes out of Brussels this afternoon."
European Union interior and justice ministers will try to bridge a divide over the region’s worst refugee crisis since World War II when they meet Monday in Brussels to hammer out an agreement over binding quotas redistributing 160,000 migrants who have flooded into Hungary, Greece and Italy. Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic have opposed such measures. Germany, which supports the EU proposal, on Sunday introduced the temporary controls on the southern border with Austria, where thousands of migrants have been crossing into the country. Austria responded Monday by sending 2,200 troops to its frontier with Hungary, while Slovakia reinstated checks along its border with both countries.
However, just like China's unexpected currency devaluation has thrown global capital markets into a tailspin, so Germany decision to temporarily suspend Schengen is reverberating across Europe. "Germany’s move risks creating widespread disruption as governments weigh a further tightening of frontier controls across Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with her Austrian counterpart, Werner Faymann, Tuesday in Berlin to discuss the crisis."
“A temporary closing doesn’t mean that the border is shut,” Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s chief spokesman, said Monday in Berlin. “Refugees will continue to come and we hope that it will happen as part of a more orderly process.”
In the meantime, however, Europe is dramatically escalating measures to halt the influx and as AFP reported earlier today, the European Union has now approved military action against human traffickers in the Mediterranean Sea.
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