These weeks are key to the future of the European Union it is at stake than the allocation of quotas for refugees. We played to show the world that the values of the founding fathers remain in force. The EU is a political and economic union, but above all a social union. The prevailing scepticism at meetings in Brussels, is contrasting to the solidarity of citizens. Once again the European people at the forefront and the policy makers to tail. As always happens, they are late and wrong.
When the Croatian government changed its stance Thursday on accepting refugees into the country and stopped allowing a corridor for safe passage through its borders, it left many people stuck in a strange limbo in a country with a high youth unemployment rate and an economy that has struggled to keep pace with other, stronger European Union members that are theoretically better equipped to deal with the crisis. Staying in Croatia, which has been slow to recover from the global economic crisis of 2008, was likely not in the plans of many refugees, if any. Croatia has the third-highest youth unemployment rate in the EU at more than 45 percent. Only Spain and Greece have higher jobless rates for people between the ages of 15 and 24.
The problem stills alive, European Union has failed to produce a unified policy to address the refugee crisis as people flee war-torn and repressive states, including Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea. Germany and EU President Jean-Claude Juncker have pushed for a quota plan to redistribute refugees among states based on their populations and economic conditions. But these quotas must be met as soon as possible; the future of the Union is at stake. If we react in time, there is still hope to leave a legacy of integration for our future generations.
