The EU’s citizens are just as divided as its member states

Deep divisions within Europe are increasingly threatening the values upon which the European project of “ever closer union” is based.

Deep divisions within Europe are increasingly threatening the values upon which the European project of “ever closer union” is based.

In 2015, during the refugee crisis, many commentators saw a divide between German chancellor Angela Merkel’s Willkommenskultur (welcoming culture) and Hungarian prime minister Victor Orbán’s vision of ethnic purity: A Western Europe of bridges versus an Eastern Europe of walls.