European responses to the asylum crisis

Pascal BRICE Director General of OFPRA (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons) [vc_btn title= »Download article » style= »outline » color= »primary » align= »right » i_icon_fontawesome= »fa fa-file-pdf-o » add_icon= »true » link= »url:http%3A%2F%2Fconfrontations.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2FInterface-108-Proceedings-of-the-conference-Refugees-p6-7.pdf||target:%20_blank| »] Growing numbers of people are being driven into exile from countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Sudan. At first the asylum crisis – which reached a peak in 2015 – was met with almost complete indifference, before a few, initially scattered, responses began to emerge. I am concerned about some of the plans currently being discussed by the European institutions. I am among those who, in 2015, argued for a more organised approach to refugee reception in Europe. Because of the chaos in Calais and the Greek islands, some are drawing all too hasty links between migrants and terrorism, while others (albeit a tiny minority) are trying to use the situation to further their own agenda, in a way that could be devastating for