The European Onion*

Refugees! All of a sudden! Since many months they appear by thousands at the coasts and at the borders of Good Old Europe, desperately longing for a safe harbor. And Good Old Europe, this slowly progressing project encompassing half a billion people now, is obviously confused. Not that we Europeans wouldn't know how to deal with refugees in a constructive way. We had to deal with millions of them during the last 100 years. These were mostly Europeans, people like us. But these new refugees... Either they are black; or they are muslims; or they are even both of these.
Three years ago (it was February too), I spent two weeks in Haifa, the home town of my wife. I did this without any 'touristic' feelings. We had to take care about a former apartment of hers, did some renovations there, frequented the local shops. Due to our tight relation I soon began to feel familiar with the neighborhood, although the atmosphere was very different from the atmosphere in my hometown Vienna. And this starts with such fundamental things as astronomy and climate: for my European standards, this Haifa-February was no February at all.
Now, I wonder what on earth drove one and a half million residents of southerly latitudes northwards to Austria, to Germany, and even as far as to Sweden? What did they expect to find there? Will they not be sorry, now, during European winter, waiting desperately for the return of daylight? Probably they are, but most of them had no other choice. 'Arab Spring' is the culprit. Nobody ordered that kind of 'Spring'. It happened. We can only hope that, one day, it will really develop into something more peaceful, something nice - as the word 'spring' suggests.
But for the time being, we must find some comfortable arrangements with our unexpected guests. On first glance, you might think - astronomic and climatic inconveniences left aside - that 500 million Europeans should easily accomodate short- or middle-term shelter for a few million desperate people deprived of their homes. But as it looks now, these 'Europeans' have big troubles coming to terms with their own identity. Apparently, they still feel as Europeans to differing extents. This European Union almost feels like a European onion, with several layers.
As we all know: peeling the onion may return a pile of pellicles, finally with no onion left. However, not only the member states feel responsibility for the whole to differing extents; also the refugees seeking admission seem to have just a few of the 'central members' on their agenda. For the moment, the problem is preliminarily solved by centrally directed distribution to all parts of the most accessed EU members. Distribution to other EU members did not yet succeed, but should in principle be possible as well, if (1) the EU would act as a union and (2) would be perceived as a union by the refugees.
If I would have to seek admittance abroad, driven away from my home, I also would probably have certain preferences. But surely I would also understand that I need some minimum of flexibility. I should have a plan B, and I am sure that also the actual refugees have their plans B. We are all humans, and humans communicate. We must find the best solutions together. Exactly this is happening quite now: We all together, refugees and hosts, are looking for solutions. This means a lot of discussions, many meetings, and of course also lots of emotions.
We should not be afraid of these emotions. We should talk about them. We should not lie into our faces: everything is fine. It is not fine, because it is a tense situation. People lost their homes, lost their close relatives, have been traumatized. They need help. And they are millions. The situation needs the concerted efforts of more than just a few emergency specialists. As a whole, the European Union is powerful and skilled enough to provide this necessary help. Maybe it will still take some time until all members realize what they are part of.
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*The term "European Onion" was coined by Jan-Emmanuel De Neve from the University of Oxford in 2007 (J Europ Integr 29, 503-521).

See also: Bansak K, Ferwerda J, Hainmueller J, Dillon A, Hangartner D, Lawrence D & Weinstein J (2018) Improving refugee integration through data-driven algorithmic assignment. Science 359, 325-29