The Summer of Their Discontent

Given that Europeans are ever so much more sophisticated than Americans they are, this summer, suffering an invasion of immigrant refugees. This time, it’s Italy and Spain that are taking the brunt of the invasion. For the record, the flow of immigrants to the United States over the past six months has dropped precipitously.

Lucianne brings us up to speed (via Maggie’s Farm):

Italy’s migrant welcome centers are in a state of “collapse” as huge waves of African migrants take advantage of the temperate climate to make the crossing from Libya to the Italian peninsula. On Tuesday, 8,500 African migrants are reaching Italian shores aboard 14 different ships, adding to the 5,000 who arrived on Monday. The massive arrivals have led local media as well as politicians to speak of an authentic immigrant “invasion” exceeding the country’s capacity of assimilation. Officials reported on June 15 that more than 65,000 migrants had arrived since the beginning of the year, but that was prior to the latest.

As for the South of Spain, aka Andalusia, the same scene is playing out. The Daily Mail has the story:

Last week, 1,025 migrants arrived illegally on the Andalusia coast, where millions of Britons holiday each year in the famous Costa resorts. Every day, more come on what is now the fastest-growing migrant sea route from Africa to Europe.

Italian authorities are now threatening to refuse entry to any refugee boats coming from Libya:

The Daily Mail reports:

Italy has threatened to close its ports to aid groups rescuing migrants off Libya's coast as it struggles to cope with the highest rate of rescues this year, officials said.

The country's representative to the EU, Maurizio Massari, said the situation 'has become unsustainable' as it emerged 10,000 refugees have tried to cross the Mediterranean in the last four days.

Italy's former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said citizens were 'exasperated' and a fresh strategy was needed.

The Italians want other European nations to share the pain. We shall see what Chancellor Merkel and President Macron say about that. For now, a group of lesser Central European nations has decided to close their borders to all further refugees.

Legal Insurrection (via Maggie’s Farm) reprints the story from ABC:

Defense officials of six Central European countries and the Balkans have pledged close cooperation in tackling migration with all possible means including use of armed forces.

The countries — Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia — have created a grouping called the Central European Defense Cooperation and want to be a role model for the entire European Union.

Among the group’s goals is that all migrants who want to apply for asylum in EU countries have to do it in centers outside the bloc.

Austrian Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said after a meeting in Prague on Monday that his country has been preparing a detailed action plan of cooperation for the six whose military forces will train in a joint drill in next few months.

Naturally, EU authorities are trying to punish nations who are refusing to accept their fair share of refugees. National Review reports on this side of the story:

The European Union announced this week that it would begin proceedings to punish Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic for their refusal to accept refugees and migrants under a 2015 scheme the E.U. commission created. The mission’s aim was to relieve Greece and Italy of the burden from migrant waves arriving from the Middle East and Africa, largely facilitated by European rescues of migrants in the Mediterranean.

The conflict between the EU and these three nations of the Visegrád Group is not just about the authority the EU can arrogate to itself when facing an emergency (one largely of its own making), but about the character of European government and society in the future.

According to the Telegraph, it’s just beginning:

Europe could face a new wave of migrant arrivals this summer, a leaked German government report has warned. Up to 6.6m people are waiting in countries around the Mediterranean to cross into Europe, according to details of the classified report leaked to Bild newspaper.

They include more than 2.5m in North Africa waiting to attempt the perilous crossing by boat. Angela Merkel’s government has not commented on the report, which the newspaper says was marked for internal use only.

There are fears of a dramatic rise in arrivals as the summer weather turns favourable for sea crossings. Growing numbers of migrants are known to be attempting to reach Europe by boat in the wake of the closure of the Balkan land route last year.

Back in the realm of the crude Americans, the six Muslim nation travel ban will take effect today.