Juncker urges united approach from EU

“We can build walls, we can build fences. But imagine for a second it were you, your child in your arms, the world you knew torn apart around you. There is no price you would not pay, there is no wall you would not climb, no sea you would not sail, no border you would not cross if it is war or the barbarism of the so-called Islamic State that you are fleeing”.

This was European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s first State of the Union address made to the European Parliament, most of which was devoted to convincing the EU to have a united approach to manage the migration crisis.

In mourning for his mother who died on Sunday, he reminded Europeans that it is them now, but it was us a short time ago — the O’Neills and Murphys of Ireland, the McDonalds of Scotland, the freedom fighters of Spain, the Hungarians, the Poles, the Czechs, the Jews, Sinti, Roma and the 60m European refugees after the Second World War.