Europe´s Refugee Crisis in 2015 and Security Threats from the Baltic Perspective

Abstract

Recent developments in Europe starting with the Russia-Ukraine conflict and ending with the economic and political instability in Greece have given rise to instability in the European Union. Yet, none of the previous crises could be compared with the crisis concerning the current massive influx of refugees into the EU that challenges both solidarity and responsibility of the member states. In this context, it is extremely important to understand the actual security threats related to the refugee crisis, particularly for the Baltic countries that have linked their security with European Union and the NATO. Particularly in Estonia and in Latvia, the refugee crisis has been presented as a high security matter as possible rejection of the EU-migrant could lead to the country's isolation from the international community, the loss of the NATO security network and its exposure to the security threats from Russia. Alternative decision to accept the refugee quotas could on the other hand create challenges for internal security in terms of legitimacy of national governments and public support to refugee policy. In the light of recent terrorist attacks in France these questions seem even growingly important.

(Im)moral aspects of attitudes towards immigrants: The role of the Dark Tetrad and Moral Foundations

“…Immigration and refugee crisis are currently one of the major problems for many European countries, including the so-called transition countries, such as Serbia. It maybe argued that the current massive influx of refugees into the EU poses challenges for solidarity and responsibility for both the states and individuals (Veebel & Markus, 2015). One of the biggest concerns includes the polarized reactions of the citizens of European countries, including Serbia as one of the key countries on the Western-Balkan Route of refugees and immigrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Africa.…”

The Refugee Reception Crisis : Polarized Opinions and Mobilizations

“…The restrictive opinion climate in Eastern European countries is, for instance, in line with the politicization of the issue and the policy stance in a majority of these countries. Several Eastern European countries, including the Visegrad group (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia), have been most vocal about opposing more generous asylum policies and the introduction of refugee quota (Veebel and Markus 2015;Niemann and Zaun 2018;Zaun 2018), which could also partly explain why exactly public support for generous asylum policies is lowest in these regions. Furthermore, research shows that frames adopted by the media and political parties are indeed important in shaping intergroup anxiety, stereotypes and attitudes towards migrants (Bos et al 2016;Matthes and Schmuck 2017).…”

Estonian Perceptions of Security: Not Only About Russia and the Refugees

“…In this sense, somewhat differently from the overall results of the Global Risks Report, Estonians are extremely concerned about the activities of terrorist networks and terrorist attacks. This concern is partially also reflected in the general attitude of Estonians towards the massive influx of refugees in the EU countries -although the local political elite claims the opposite, among the public the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Paris and Nice tend still to be associated with the European refugee crisis (Veebel and Markus 2015). Accordingly, the share of respondents who are concerned about the activities of the Islamic State and terrorist networks has significantly increased in 2016 compared to the previous years, 2014 and 2015.…”