BackThe idea of Europe
As if its stumbling economy wasn't enough, the growing mass sexual assault scandal in Germany is posing perhaps the hardest question of them all
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The European Union (EU) just can’t seem to catch a break these days. As if its stumbling economy wasn’t enough, the growing mass sexual assault scandal in Germany is posing perhaps the hardest question of them all: What is Europe?
The attacks were allegedly carried out on hundreds of women across the country on New Year’s eve by migrants and asylum seekers said to be Arab or North African in appearance. Only now coming into the spotlight, they have further deepened the deep divide created by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s generous policy toward Syrian refugees.
This is not simply a German problem—it is a microcosm of a debate that is taking place across the continent. Europe’s vision of itself as a multicultural society is at war with the uncomfortable realization that the road to assimilation isn’t always easy. This has empowered a nativist pushback from France to Sweden to Poland. The final answer is as crucial to the EU’s future as its economic policies.
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