Interview: Why Europe's migrant crisis difficult to deal with

Interior Ministers from the European Union (EU)'s 28 countries will hold an emergency meeting next Monday to possibly agree on a common action plan for current migrant crisis. To provide proper measures for dealing with the unprecedented number of migrants and asylum seekers pressing at EU borders, the bloc still faces what many see as one of Europe's biggest challenges in decades.

"Immigration is a topic still partially entrusted to EU member states. Yet, there is a contradiction," Federico Niglia, professor of International European History with LUISS University of Rome, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

On one hand, a supranational principle allows the free movement of people within EU member states adhering to Schengen area, he explained. On the other hand, there is an intergovernmental coordination between various national bodies, such as police, judiciary, and other security forces, presiding over the EU's external borders.

"There is no true connection between these two realities. Yet, both systems are directly touched by immigration because, after entering any country in the Schengen area, migrants would be free to move further," Niglia said.

This disconnection proved a source of tensions between EU states, and of practical difficulties in managing the increasing arrivals of people, he said.

"We should ask ourselves: what are the political reasons for the EU to not have a common immigration policy yet?" Niglia asked. The answer would be that EU countries have different geo-political interests, he said.

"What some countries have perceived as a critical influx of migrants was not seen as a priority by other EU partners for a long time," Niglia said.

Moreover, the migrant pressure has been different both in number and origin from country to country. For example, Britain has long been used to receiving a large inflow from India, Bangladesh, and some African countries; Germany had a major inflow from Turkey; Italy and other southern EU countries were an easier destination for people from North Africa.

Yet, political changes in the Mediterranean area and the Middle East, humanitarian crises, and the 4-year-long Syrian war, changed the landscape. "Now immigration has become a real "EU issue", and there are two main reasons for that," Niglia said. "The first is the impressive surge in number; the second is that migration routes have multiplied."

Indeed, data showed an impressive growing trend in each of the three major migrant routes toward Europe. Some 170,000 people crossed the so-called "western Mediterranean" route in 2014, with a 277 percent increase from 2013, according to FRONTEX statistics. Over 50,800 took the "eastern Mediterranean" route, with a 105 percent annual increase; and the flow passing through the "Western Balkan" route grew by 117 percent, up to some 43,300 people.

These numbers put EU immigration and asylum procedures under an unprecedented strain. Domestic concerns seem to have weighed on the attitude of many European governments. Nationalist and anti-immigration forces have recently gained consensus across the bloc, like the National Front in France, the Northern League in Italy, the UKIP in Britain, Golden Dawn in Greece, or the Jobbik party in Hungary.

"The mood across EU seems that of an electoral campaign, since the last European election (May 2014)," Niglia said. "Immigration is an easy issue to ride for politicians, and a topic on which public opinions can be easily frightened, especially in times of economic uncertainty and unemployment."

"The good results of anti-immigration forces in the latest European vote proved it," he added. In some countries, political leaders were overall less prone to take a soft approach towards migrants and even refugees, for fear of appearing weak before their electorate. Endit