Excerpt:
The breaking-down of borders and the free movement of people were central visions of the European Union project. But look anywhere across the continent today and that vision is becoming a nightmare. The flood of refugees and migrants across the Mediterranean is affecting every country in Europe and creating troubling new realities.
Along its border with Serbia, the Hungarian government has ordered the construction of a fence to try to keep out the flow of migrants. A temporary structure consists of vast rolls of razor wire. At the Italian-Austrian border, there are unprecedented backlogs of people, as the Austrian authorities refuse to allow migrants to cross. At Calais, there is pandemonium as migrants at the French port attempt to break into the Channel Tunnel or otherwise find a way to cross to Britain. And in the Eastern German town of Heidenau, there have been nights of rioting as locals protested an asylum seekers' shelter, burned down a migrant reception hall and booed Chancellor Merkel when she arrived in the area. Her government has just announced that it expects 800,000 migrants to enter Germany this year.