Douglas Murray, author of the bestseller “The Strange Death of Europe”, asked some crucial questions about the migration crisis and Europe’s response to it during his speech at the V4 ‘Future of Europe’ international conference in Budapest.
Addressing a packed conference hall in Budapest’s Caste Garden Bazaar, Murray said that in order to find an appropriate response to the seemingly never-ending consequences of the recent migration crisis “we need to ask necessary, deep and painful questions.”
He said that one of these pressing questions is whether “Europe can be the home of anyone in the world who wants to move in and call it home?” According to Murray, the answer should be a resounding no. And if the answer is no, he added, then “who can come to Europe and who should not?”
“The events of 2015 showed what can happen if political leaders fail to think through the long-term effects of their own policies,” Murray said, adding that “everyday news in Europe show the consequences of this.”
Although he compared Europe’s role in managing the migration crisis to that of a lifeboat, Murray said that on the side of every lifeboat there should be a sign saying how many people it can safely carry on board. “Our countries have no such sign, therefore we cannot possibly pick up everybody who wishes to come on board,” added Murray.
On the migrant quota plans the author said that it’s like “Brussels and Berlin think other member states should pick up the tab that Merkel and Juncker ran up.”
“A rational approach to our continent’s challenges would recognize not only what we can do, but also what we cannot,” he concluded.