Europe's divisions and lack of a coherent, or any, foreign policy have long offered a sorry spectacle. But never, since the European Economic Community morphed into the European Union in 1993, have they so disgraced the old continent. Even as tens of thousands of families flee civil war and violence in Syria, Afghanistan and African states, then stagger ashore in Greece and Italy, political leaders in France and the United Kingdom wring their hands in despair - or even worse, speak of a “swarm” or "marauders”. The attitude of disdain that the great legion of the unwashed dare seek refuge in this civilised Christian continent is palpable.
“Gouverner c’est prévoir” runs the French adage. In this case, European leaders' lack of foresight has many strands. The failure to anticipate that the millions of Syrians who have fled to neighbouring Turkey and Lebanon would eventually seek asylum in Europe; their blindness to the predictable outcome of their ill-thought through plans to build democracy in Afghanistan; the neglect of their obligation to Libya after the death of Muammar Gaddafi; the sheer dumbness of the United States and the United Kingdom's "shock-and-awe" therapy in Iraq in 2003, and the inevitable increase in Iranian influence that would follow. All suggest that European and American statesmen have lost the capacity to think through the medium-term consequences of their policies.
German leaders, notably Angela Markel, and their peers in Sweden, are rare voices who dare to reaffirm their commitment to collective action and Europe’s shared allegiance in upholding human rights. Perhaps mindful of the Nazi era and the waves of suffering refugees in Europe after 1945, the German chancellor is unafraid to reaffirm Europe’s obligations to those who seek refuge from violence and terror. Italy and Greece have done what they can to help. By contrast Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán - who resembles a cheap version of Vladimir Putin - stoops lower than most in arguing that the refugees are a threat to European civilisation and can only be contained by a razor-wire fence. Can he have forgotten that thousands of Hungarians who fled Soviet repression after 1956 were welcomed in the west?
