As the saying goes "concern yourself more accepting responsibility than with assigning blame".
US continuous criticism of the EU’s handling of the refugee crisis is the case in point .
Let's face it - the EU migrant crises comes as a direct result of a Europe
which is still blindly following a US led foreign policy which is part of the so-called "allied commitments".
When
these plans,however, as most of them usually do, turn into human
disaster, Europe is required to carry the burden of fixing the mess
afterwards..
The above specifically reflects on a
totally flawed EU Middle-East foreign policy (a carbon copy of that of
the US), specially in regions of the Muslim
World, the Middle East and North Africa.
Where exactly is the line between inaction and complicity? The notion of
neutrality, for a country as powerful as the United States, is
illusory. Doing nothing or “doing no harm” means maintaining or
reverting to the status quo, which in the Middle East is never neutral,
due to America’s and Europe's longstanding relationships with regional political actors.
Europe’s
refugee crisis might feel a million miles away for many
Americans, but there is something everyone can relate to: money: and
this ompletely messed up Middle East foreign policy could cost
the United States several hundred billion dollars eventually.
That’s according to the Bertelsmann Foundation, a respected think tank here in Germany, which
looked at the potential economic consequences if Europe were to reinstate border controls within its 26-country passport-free travel area.
As
the continent buckles under the weight of the most serious refugee
crisisever since World War II, the breakdown of that zone, known as the
Schengen Area, has loomed as a dark prospect.
Reinstating border checks are bad for European business, experts say.
They would even stunt economic growth through a vicious cycle that
starts with higher labor costs — thanks to long lines at borders — and
ends with declining sales and lower production.
If this happens it would mean major economic losses for the EU could reach up to
€1.4 trillion by 2025.
So what to do about it? It would basically need two essental steps to be taken by the EU .
The
first would be to immediately decouple the EU foreign policy from that
of the failed US Middle East foreign policy; secondly, invest in a far
reaching Euro-Mediterranean - North African Free Trade Area, which would
aim at establishing peace and prosperity in the area by removing
barriers to
trade and investment between both the EU and countries in that area,
based on mutual respect and recognition of all freely elected
governments, religious freedom and cultural ties.
It
obviously would be a long and difficult process, but the results would
certainly be far more rewarding, productive and beneficial to all the
people in the area, and obviously less costly than the useless and
destructive military campaigns most nations within the EU and the US are
presently involved in.
