Will Europe close its borders

The Washington Post reports:

The U.N. refugee agency said Monday that a record 218,394 people crossed the Mediterranean to reach European shores in October — about as many as the total from all of last year.

That’s a huge number. Basically refugees respond to incentives as much as anyone. Given a choice between waiting for the UN to get them a place out of a refugee camp in Turkey, and trekking to Europe, they will of course choose Europe.

Slovenia has said it is considering a fence of its own. Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec described that action as “a last resort” but added that he is “very much concerned” that other countries will erect barriers, leaving his tiny Alpine nation shouldering an unsustainable burden. Even now, he said, Slovenia is struggling to cope.

“We cannot go on like this for a long time,” Erjavec said in an e-mailed response to questions. “We have received more than 100,000 migrants in just two weeks. This number represents 5% of our population. Our human, financial and material resources are limited.”

No country could cope with a 5% population increase in two weeks.