Valdai Club

Is there a threat that the Black Sea will follow the Mediterranean in becoming a permanent route for the motley flow of migrants from the Middle East and Central Asia with transit centers in post-Soviet states? Bulgaria and Romania are also Black Sea countries and they are not sufficiently strong or technically equipped to handle the challenge of single-handedly securing their borders, while the absence of a common strategy in EU migration policy is making a bad situation worse.

The immigration problem will inevitably affect the political climate in the EU. There is a revival and the growing influence of extreme right-wing forces which affect the results of elections in a number of countries.

The refugee problem is not new for the modern world. Streams of people in search of a better life have been flowing into Europe, the continent of the "golden billion", for decades.