Archbishop of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Hollerich said the the “immense graveyard” of the Mediterranean was a “disgrace for Europe”. And he warned the “infamous game” of populism was stoking people’s fears and dramatising the deaths at sea. The Archbishop made his comments in an article entitled Toward the European Elections. He said: “There are many fears in today’s Europe. Mixed together and fostered by the rise of populism, these may lead to a destabilisation of our democracies and a weakening of the European Union.
“Today, the sense of well-being seems to have disappeared and given rise to many fears, which claim a European ‘Christian’ identity, even though they consist of political desires in clear contrast with the Gospel.
“Anguish is defined as fear without a concrete object. This anguish destabilises the human person; in fact, a multiplicity of nebulous fears leads to this anxiety.
“Some populist policies take advantage of it and give a name to the objects of these fears, which thereby exist and transform into aggression.
“Enemies are presented to allay our fears: migrants, Islam, Jews, etc. What an ignoble game is played on our anxieties!”
Tens of thousands of people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean since the migrant crisis began to unfold in 2015, including 409 recorded deaths this year.
And despite a recent lull in attempted crossings, the Italian government has warned of a possible surge of refugees fleeing fresh fighting in Libya as civil war breaks out.
Up to 800,000 foreign migrants and Libyans could attempt to make the crossing to Europe if the fighting does not stop.
About 3,600 migrants are held in facilities close to the main battlefields on the southern outskirts of Tripoli.
Speaking after meeting Ghassan Salame, the United Nation’s envoy to Libya, Italian foreign minister Enzo Moavero said he had written to European chiefs to request preparations be made for “the event of large and sudden flows of migrants from Libya”.
European treaties require member states to assist Italy in the event of a resumption of mass immigration across the Mediterranean.