Europe must tap multiple identities amid influx of refugees

One of the lessons from the 2015 refugee crisis is that the EU will need to develop a far stronger common foreign and security policy, says Carl Bildt

TRAVELLING through Germany in the run-up to its federal election on Sunday, one cannot help but be struck by the lingering signs of profound trauma from the 2015 refugee crisis.

Suddenly and virtually without warning, nearly 1m desperate people — mostly Syrians fleeing the carnage in their homeland — flocked to Germany. And while Germany may be Europe’s most bureaucratically well-managed country, even it was overwhelmed.