Summary

2015 has created many uncertainties for Europe. The unprecedented and unexpected inflow of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants from the war in Syria and surrounding areas, the Middle East and North Africa to Europe have led to unresolved arguments about how these people and their related costs are to be distributed among EU member states. No longer-term solution to this issue has been found to date. Border controls reintroduced in the Schengen area threaten the practice, if not the principle, of freedom of movement. The terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, the scares in Brussels, and the mob sex attacks on New Year’s Eve in German cities, linked to organised groups, raise concerns about security, the eventual integration or otherwise of immigrants, and the evolution of European societies. The substantial inflow of people will inter alia change demographic structures, the balance of skills in the labour force, and will also affect public finances. The United Kingdom’s planned referendum on EU membership, the possibility of a ‘Brexit”, is creating uncertainty for the United Kingdom and, to some degree, for the whole EU.