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Europe’s Migration Crisis is Not Over

<p>Nearly 3&comma;000 migrants crossed over the Evros River from Turkey into Greece during the month of April &&num;8211&semi; that&rsquo&semi;s about half as many to arrive in the entirety of 2017&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The situation&comma; which a local mayor describes as &ldquo&semi;on the verge of spinning out of control&comma;&rdquo&semi; is reminiscent of the influx in 2015 &&num;8211&semi; when half a million migrants crossed the Aegean Sea to get to Greece&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;Our reception facilities are overwhelmed&hellip&semi;Far more are coming than are actually being registered&comma;&rdquo&semi; complains Dimitris Mavrides&comma; mayor of the border city Orestiada&period; &ldquo&semi;The government has just sent 120 extra police&comma; but they are temporary and simply not enough&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>European leaders made a deal to cut back on Aegean crossings&comma; but that deal did not encompass the Evros River&period; &ldquo&semi;In a boat it can take as little as three minutes to cross and is far cheaper &lbrack;than the Aegean route&rsqb;&comma;&rdquo&semi; says Mavrides&period; &ldquo&semi;They are coming precisely because it is not part of the deal and because word has got out&hellip&semi;If they get here and are processed&comma; they are free to go anywhere on the mainland&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Analysts believe the influx was caused by Turkey&rsquo&semi;s military offenses in northern Syria&comma; with locals running in fear of imminent attacks from NATO members&period; The Greeks think Turkey is deliberately letting people leave in order to put pressure on European governments &lpar;this is something that Turkey has done in the past&rpar;&period; The influx is likely a combination of both factors&comma; but more importantly&comma; the refugees&rsquo&semi; arrival will exacerbate the problems caused by the crisis in 2015&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Germany has declared the migration crisis over&comma; but that is clearly not the case&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 2015 migration crisis spawned a wave of nationalism that swept through Europe and the US&comma; with several nationalist candidates coming into power and Britain voting to leave the EU&period; That movement died down a bit last year with the election of Emmanuel Macron in France&comma; but seems to be picking back up this year in Hungary&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban&rsquo&semi;s Fidesz Party won a super-majority in April after running a campaign focused on mass migration&period; That victory secures a third consecutive term for Orban&comma; who responded to the 2015 migration crisis by deploying the Hungarian military and building a border fence&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;We leave it to the voters&comma; but this is a very clear question that should be decided&comma; whether they would like to have a Hungarian Hungary or a Hungary occupied by migrants&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Foreign Minister P&eacute&semi;ter Szijj&aacute&semi;rt&oacute&semi; last month before the election&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Orban&rsquo&semi;s victory follows nationalist and populist wins in Czech Republic&comma; Austria&comma; and Italy&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;I strongly predict the revolution will keep rolling&comma;&rdquo&semi; says former UK Independence Party Leader Nigel Farage&comma; who campaigned heavily in favor of Brexit&period; &ldquo&semi;The Macron agenda &&num;8211&semi; more money&comma; more taxation&comma; more military power&comma; foreign policy without national veto &&num;8211&semi; everything Macron is talking about runs into a headlong collision with the way the people of Europe are feeling&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte &lpar;pictured above&rpar; last year ran a full-page advertisement in national newspapers blasting migrants who refused to assimilate&period; &ldquo&semi;I understand that people who think that if you so fundamentally reject our land&comma; I prefer that you leave&comma;&rdquo&semi; reads the letter&period; &ldquo&semi;As it happens I have that feeling too&period; Act normal or go away&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Research suggests it may be too late for Europe&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Muslims in Europe have a younger median age and are more likely to have children than other populations&period; Based on current demographic trends&comma; Muslims could overtake native populations in most of Europe within two generations&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;Within 40 years at the latest&comma; it is almost certain that the majority of the population will be Muslim in Austria&comma; Germany&comma; Spain&comma; Italy&comma; Belgium&comma; and Holland&comma;&rdquo&semi; writes economist Charles Gave&period; This is a calculation&comma; not a prediction&comma; says Gave&comma; and it does not take into account new immigrants&period; &ldquo&semi;The immense news of the next 30 or 40 years will thus be the disappearance of the European populations&comma; whose ancestors have created the modern world&period; And with these populations will disappear the diverse and complementary European nations that have made an immense success of the old continent for at least five centuries&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Muslims made up about 5&percnt; of Europe&rsquo&semi;s population in 2016&period; A lengthy report by Pew Research Center estimates this percentage will increase to 7&period;4&percnt; by the year 2050&period; Account for &ldquo&semi;moderate&rdquo&semi; levels of immigration and that figure increases to 11&period;2&percnt;&period; Account for &ldquo&semi;high&rdquo&semi; levels of migration and that figure jumps to 14&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The report also suggests a sharp decline in the number of non-Muslims in Europe&period;&nbsp&semi;While not as dramatic as Gave&&num;8217&semi;s calculations&comma; this projection holds serious implications for democracy and identity in Europe&period; We have already seen a &&num;8220&semi;coincidental&&num;8221&semi; increase in crime rates in countries that accept Muslims immigrants&period; What happens when this population is the majority&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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