Europe is in serious trouble. This is not Europe that we knew.  The Europe of today is not the Europe of the 1940s. The Europe of today is now being questioned. Refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, are dying to get into the European Union. Many British conservatives of David Cameron's government are fighting to get out of Europe. Others are bored by it. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has been plotting to undermine Europe for ages! Christian Europe is now in fact less Christian...

The Europe of today is a nightmare, a nightmare of looming fragmentation, violence and concrete walls. The two most powerful symbols of European integration – the euro that binds 19 EU states in a currency union, and the Schengen accords that allow people to move freely between 22 borderless European Union nations – are now in danger of unravelling under the pressure of polarized politics, diverging economic performance and the influx of more than one million desperate migrants and refugees in the past year.

In Berlin and in the world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands tall, an intelligent leader of distinction. However, the pressures are getting most intense. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union will turn on her if the number of refugees keeps rising. The strange thing in all this is the fact that troubled Europe has rescued the United States. How? Without Merkel's courageous decision to take in 1.1 million refugees last year, Europe would have faced catastrophe – and America, even in an election year, could not have ignored violent mayhem among its allies as borders closed and huddled masses yearning to breathe free were cast adrift.

Nobody knows what Germany’s limit is. One possible outcome for this great country is to cut a deal with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. This deal will most probably see Turkey getting piles of cash – and perhaps the visa waiver that Turks desperately want from Germany – in exchange for Turkey strictly curtailing the refugee flow to an agreed number who would not have to risk their lives in flimsy boats.

In conclusion, we all know that Turkish politics have become German domestic politics. A troubled Europe, cast loose from America and under mounting pressure, could turn to Ankara to be saved.

Jos Edmond Zarb

Birkirkara