The state of unpreparedness

Events have often taken mankind by surprise through their force and their consequences. Starting with the ancient times, answers to major challenges and threats were sometimes, if not always, late,incomplete and biased. The current migration tide across the Mediterranean questioned Europe’s ability to face an unprecedented process and proved its same unpreparedness in front of major events. Preceding similar situations like the “boat people” fleeing Vietnam three years after the fall of Saigon and the communist takeover of the entire country, the drama in the two Spanish enclaves from North Africa and the first waves of refugees arriving on the shores of the Italian island of Lampedusa taught EU decision makers nothing, and they were caught empty-handed once more as illegal migrants reached the Greek Islands and the new EU member states, Romania included. Chances of getting over the current pattern are not completely wasted if the Europeans’ common effort is focused on the origins of illegal migration, residing in the Middle East countries torn by civil wars and unrest and in African countries under brutal dictatorships.