December 23, 2015

As of Monday, more than 1 million migrants have entered Europe by sea or land this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration. This number represents a fourfold rise over the total last year. Most of the migrants—more than 970,000 people—have come by way of the Mediterranean Sea. The rest came by land, crossing from Turkey into Bulgaria and Greece. More migrants entered Europe across the Mediterranean in October than in all of 2014. Europe now faces the biggest refugee crisis since World War II (1939-1945).

A group of migrants make their way over a meadow after crossing the border between Austria and Germany in Wegscheid near Passau, Germany, in October 2015. Credit: © Matthias Schrader, AP Photo

Half of those crossing the Mediterranean in 2015 were Syrians escaping civil war in their homeland. More than 4 million Syrians have fled the four-year conflict. Afghans made up 20 percent of the migrants, and Iraqis accounted for 7 percent. Nearly 3,700 of those traveling by sea have drowned or are missing after attempting to cross the sea in unseaworthy boats.

Germany was the main destination for many of the migrants entering Europe. The most economically powerful country in the European Union (EU), Germany has led the way in extending a welcome to migrants. The EU is an economic and political partnership among 28 European countries. In August, German Chancellor Angela Merkel adopted a broad refugee policy that dramatically expanded the flow of Syrian refugees to Europe. Although Merkel initially drew widespread praise for the humanitarian spirit of her open-door refugee policy, she later faced criticism at home and abroad. The policy exacerbated political rifts within the EU.

Merkel’s offer immediately attracted tens of thousands of additional asylum seekers, including many non-Syrians. The large flow of asylum seekers is imposing major costs on receiving communities and on transit countries that are ill-equipped to handle the logistical burdens of the flow. Many of the governments of these countries resent the situation and some have put up fences. Hungary and Slovakia are taking legal action at the European Court of Justice to challenge EU plans to share asylum seekers across EU states. Politicians in some of the countries have warned that the refugee crisis has exposed problems in Europe’s Schengen passport-free area, saying that states must agree on migrant quotas. In addition, security risks were heightened in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris last month. Some of the attackers were believed to have come to France as part of the flow of migrants through Greece.

Although Merkel recently announced that she would make changes to her policy, popular support for Merkel and her party has waned because of the influx of migrants. Some commentators questioned Merkel’s political future. In the meantime, Merkel appears to be committed to her earlier pledge, “Wir schaffen das” (“We will cope”), asserting that Germany would continue to be a welcoming host to refugees. Anything else, she said, would “not be my country.”

Additional World Book article:

• Immigration

May 2, 2014

A number of pro-Russia rebels were killed and injured this morning in a Ukrainian military offensive in the separatist stronghold of Slovyansk. Speaking to media representatives in Kiev, interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov confirmed that government forces were tightening a cordon around Slovyansk, with the object of retaking control of the city.

Earlier in the day two Ukrainian army helicopters were shot down, killing a pilot and a serviceman. The self-appointed mayor of Slovyansk, Vyachislav Ponomaryov, claimed that his forces had brought down the helicopters. Ponomaryov stated that the helicopters had fired missiles into the city. His assertions remain unconfirmed.

Ukrainian military forces today launched an offensive against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

In Moscow, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly denounced the offensive, declaring that Ukraine has effectively destroyed “all hope” for a plan, negotiated last month in Geneva, Switzerland, to defuse growing tensions. While Putin called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, a Kremlin spokesperson repeated Putin’s recent warning that he reserves the right to intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine to protect the interests of its ethnic-Russian residents.  Speaking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday by telephone, Putin demanded that the Ukrainian government withdraw all troops from eastern Ukraine. Russia has 40,000 troops massed along the Ukrainian border.

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book article:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)

September 24, 2013

German Chancellor Angela Merkel triumphed in Germany’s parliamentary elections on September 22. Her Christian Democratic Union and its sister party, the Christian Social Union, took 41.5 percent of the vote, which political analysts describe as a personal victory for Merkel. German newspaper columnist Heribert Prantl wrote, “Her election victory was not just a victory, but a triumph.” He lamented the lack of a feminine form of “triumphator” in German, declaring that Merkel deserved the accolade. The final results gave Merkel’s coalition 311 seats, just 5 seats short of an absolute majority.

Angela Merkel, Germany's first woman chancellor, won a resounding victory in the 2013 federal elections. (© Sean Gallup, Getty Images)

Her party’s campaign concentrated almost solely on Merkel’s solid leadership during the eurozone credit crisis. International affairs experts describe Merkel as Europe’s one indispensable leader and give her credit for holding the eurozone together in times of economic turmoil. She is only the third German chancellor–after Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl–to be elected to a third term.

Additional World Book articles:

• Germany 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• European Union: The Euro (a special report)
• Crisis in the Eurozone (a special report)
• Eurozone Crisis: No End in Sight (a special report)