We are watching it unfold. The financial crisis has nudged European governments into re-nationalising sovereign states.

It has been unfolding all over Europe and it has barely been noticed, but now with France and Germany joining the fray, it is becoming ever clearer.

We had our own experience here in Malta, which was triggered by the arrival of thousands of migrants by sea. All of a sudden, every person of colour – whether a tourist, an immigrant or even a born and bred Maltese – became a persona non grata.

It was not the financial crisis which set this train of thought going in Malta, it was a humanitarian crisis. The UK was next to announce that it would be getting tough on immigrants and foreign workers. In fact, David Cameron’s Conservative government took power by making the issue one of its electoral promises.

Just a couple of months ago, France’s decision to repatriate Roma people to their native Romania caused a severe diplomatic incident which rocked the European Union and the European Commission to its core. The EC had compared the repatriations to mass deportation of Jews and gypsies in WWII.

Now, of course, Germany’s Angela Merkel has said that Germany’s multi-cultural experiment had been a total failure. She said that attempts to create a diverse multi-cultural society had been an “utter failure”.

This was quickly followed up by ‘instructions’ to Turks living in Germany, insomuch that they must learn German if they want to continue to live and work in Germany. The growing sentiment has also been picked up across the pond.

A recent Forbes blog, under the title “Who’s racist now?” points the finger at Europe and warns of growing nationalism on this Continent. The blog quotes a survey by Pew which finds that over half of Spaniards and Germans hold negative views of Muslims. So do roughly 40% of the French. In contrast, only 23% of Americans share this sentiment.

This may be justified from another finding in the survey which finds that more than 80% of British Muslims identify themselves as Muslims first before being British. This is true of nearly 70% of Muslims in Spain or Germany. Similarly, up to 40% of Britain’s Islamic population believes that terrorist attacks on both Americans and their fellow Britons are justified.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Europe’s unique experiment is an evolving animal. While the EU is founded on principles of peace, economic growth, trade and solidarity – it seems that they will henceforth only apply to members of the club.