Europe hopes barbed wire will keep migrants out. It won’t
Politicians feel compelled to respond to voters’ concerns
When Spain first surrounded Ceuta and Melilla, its North African exclaves, in barbed wire in 1993 and 1996, few suspected the practice would catch on. The 1990s were, after all, an optimistic time in Europe, as the Berlin Wall came down. Alas, things have been changing. Between 2014 and 2023, the total length of border fences in the EU rose from 315 to 2,163km. Another 245km will go up this year.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Get off the fence”
Europe March 2nd 2024
- How Marine Le Pen is preparing for power
- France and Germany are at loggerheads over military aid to Ukraine
- Europe hopes barbed wire will keep migrants out. It won’t
- Azerbaijan is racing to rebuild in recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh
- Kharkiv is struggling under Russian rocket attacks
- Is Europe’s stubby skyline a sign of low ambition?
From the March 2nd 2024 edition
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Emmanuel Macron shows off the gloriously restored Notre Dame
Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever
Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right
The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
The maths of Europe’s military black hole
It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk
Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare