Summer 2018 North Africa/Mediterranean

The arrival of millions of displaced people since 2015 has become a major challenge for the EU. Policy-makers, the media and European citizens have been debating whether Europe should become a ‘fortress’ and how to distinguish between asylum and migration policy. In Austria, the debate contributed to the election of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). The leader of the People’s Party, Sebastian Kurz, has become one of the main proponents of a restrictive immigration policy in Europe. At an EU summit on the subject in June 2018, European leaders decided for the first time to set up refugee centres in countries outside the EU.