LONDON (AP) – NATO warships are steaming toward the Aegean Sea in an escalated bid to impose order on the chaotic arrival of more than 1 million migrants, which has not abated despite the wintry weather in southern Europe.
Informal mini-blocs have formed within the European Union, with some countries banding together to challenge, or just ignore, the EU’s announced refugee resettlement program. Temporary border controls have been introduced in key countries including Germany and France, threatening the cherished notion of freedom of movement across European borders.
Britain, a nuclear power with a seat at the UN Security Council, is demanding concessions ahead of a referendum on whether Britain should simply abandon the 28-nation European Union, a prospect known as Brexit. And a slow-burning, extremely divisive budget crunch threatens the future of the euro single currency that has been a hallmark of European integration.
If the European Union were a patient, its survival would be seen as threatened by multiple organ failure.
That’s the view of many experts as EU chiefs prepare for a Brussels summit that starts Thursday. Analysts believe the combined strain of these challenges may be unbearable for a political union and trading bloc that just 20 years ago seemed to be growing in stature as it proudly offered freedom and democracy – along with lucrative subsidies, military alliances and billions in foreign investment – to newly freed former Soviet satellites.