Therese Raphael, Columnist

Europe Tries to Wish Away Its Next Refugee Crisis

A deal with Turkey to control illegal migration is weakening. The backup plan is weaker.

December 14, 2016 at 4:58 PM UTC

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering health care and British politics. Previously, she was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

It isn't over.
Photographer: ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images

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Migration was originally given top billing at a meeting starting Thursday of European Union leaders in Brussels. But a draft concluding statement, obtained by Politico, shows just how little attention the matter will actually get. That’s worrying. Europe's refugee system is like one of those precarious smuggler's boats in the Aegean: unstable and likely to end in disaster.

QuickTake Europe's Refugee Crisis