Wave of crises puts European dream at risk

BRUSSELS (AFP) – The European Union (EU) founding father Jean Monnet wrote in his memoirs that "Europe will be forged in crises" – but a recent storm of troubles risks tearing the continent apart instead of bringing it together.

From a flood of refugees, to the nearcollapse of the euro and the war in Ukraine, the continent's divided leaders have struggled to deal with wave after wave of problems that strike at the heart of the European dream.

If they fail to bridge their differences, officials and analysts warn that the principles forged in a bid to build a new Europe from the ashes of World War II are in jeopardy.

"This is now threatening the heart of Europe and the core of the European project," Guy Verhofstadt, the former prime minister of Belgium who now leads the Liberal group in the European Parliament, told AFP.

The refugee crisis is "deeper than the euro crisis. I think it's a real test -- it's also an opportunity to make a jump forward," he added.

The perfect storm of crises has in recent months brought to the surface divisions that have long been papered over in pursuit of a union of 28 nations and 500 million people, together the world's biggest economy.

A deep rift between eastern and western EU states on migrants has been added to the split between north and south on the eurozone debt crisis.

Instead of solidarity and humanity in dealing with thousands of migrants dying while trying to flee Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, the world has been treated to the unedifying spectacle of EU leaders bickering over asylum quotas amounting to 0.032 percent of the continent's population.