Good point. But what will the future bring?

Submitted by Frederik (Germany), Jul 11, 2016 at 06:49

Hello Michael,

thanks a lot for the figures and statistics. I totally agree that Western Europe at this moment in time has by far better living standards that Eastern Europe. I would even add more arguments, the language and cultural barrier, the new Russian pretension in Eastern Europe, etc. But I do not regard low birth rates of ethnic Europeans necessarily as a problem. Europe is already one of the most densely populated regions on the planet and overpopulation, as for instance Stephen Hawking regularly stresses, is a huge problem for humanity. A huge problem only arises when Western governments start letting in huge numbers of muslim migrants, as our Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is doing right now. No vetting, no plan, no job perspectives, etc.

With regard to this point, there is a immensely different mindset between Eastern and Western European governments. Even social-democratic (liberal) politicians such as the Slovakian PM Robert Fico say they do not want any muslims in their country. I do not wish to be misunderstood: I do not like this xenophobic, simplistic, Trump-style attitude towards muslim immigration. I may be (typical for a German maybe) a bit too pessimistic, but the prospect of a ethno-religious civil war similar to Yugoslavia in the 1990s is not totally improbable, judging from the current condition of Western Europe. But there is a point: Immigration determines everyhting, what the population believes, their attitudes and mentalities, the traditions, has a huge influence. And the decision made right now by Merkel for instance are irreversible.

All the arguments you have put forward may lose their weight in case of such a scenario becoming reality. In such a case, the basic human urge to simply live in a country without a civil war in which at this moment unimaginable atrocities happen to mainly christian/atheist civilians, will outweigh the disadvantages you mentioned. I may be exaggerating, but the last months have shown that Europe is much more vulnerable than previously thought and that the problem of homegrown islamic extremism is much larger than thought.

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