Europe’s Fumbled Refugee Crisis, in Four Charts
- February arrivals already equivalent to number in spring 2015
- Hungary achieves dramatic reduction - by putting up razor wire
Refugees wait near railways along the Greece-Macedonia border in Kilkis, Greece, on Sunday.
Photographer: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesEuropean Union countries are ever-more at odds over how to deal with thousands of refugees fleeing the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Some 110,000 people have crossed the sea to Greece, Italy and Spain in the first two months of this year, after about a million made the journey in 2015. The EU’s 28 governments are as far apart as ever from a common stance on how to cope with the crisis.
Leaders meet on March 7 to seek solutions. That could include pressing Turkey to do more to stop refugees leaving in the first place, helping Greece manage arrivals, and kicking life into a moribund plan to disperse migrants in the bloc. The following charts illustrate a crisis that’s far from over: