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For a decade, Europe has been trapped in a seemingly endless state of migration emergency. While the original meaning of crisis points to a momentary break from the norm, since 2015 it has transformed into an permanent feature of the continent's political landscape. That fateful year, around a million individuals fled war and persecution to seek safety in Europe. In the ensuing decade, the topic of migration has been so thoroughly weaponised that it is now difficult to recall a period when it was not framed as an existential crisis.

This idea of a permanent emergency does not reflect a reality where Europe is genuinely incapable of handling new arrivals. Instead, it showcases the plain fact that many parties benefit from creating a constant feeling of crisis.

These crisis narratives fuel a profitable system of fear and have driven far-reaching changes to Europe's frontier systems and migration policies. The continent's border security industry is flourishing, with key beneficiaries including the EU's border agency, whose funding has exploded from a relatively small sum in 2014 to exceeding one billion euros today—amid frequent accusations of complicity with human rights abuses. Throughout Europe, private defence and security firms have landed high-value deals that have further militarised the region's frontiers.

The Rise of the Far Right and the Game of Mimicry

Vowing that the events of 2015 will not be duplicated, right-wing and extremist political movements are gaining strength across Europe, seemingly intent on stoking anti-migrant sentiment and normalising racist conspiracy theories. The xenophobic fringe has grabbed its opportunity. However, the fact that Europe has grown more unwelcoming for migrants and racialised minorities is largely due to the calculated opportunism of centrist parties that attempt to outflank the hard right at its own game.

Germany serves as a paradigmatic case. Exploiting the 2015 "migration wave", the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) first entered the federal parliament in 2017. Since then, as head of the opposition and later as chancellor, the CDU's Friedrich Merz has steered sharply to the right. Championing an hardline anti-migration agenda, he has uttered statements widely viewed as racist, including a recent suggestion that mass removals were needed to address a "visible issue in urban areas". This approach of adopting rival rhetoric has backfired, with the AfD's support surging to now match Merz's own party.

In the UK, the current Labour government faces a similar fate. Under huge strain from the hard-right Reform UK party, it has unveiled what it calls "the most sweeping asylum reforms in modern times". These draconian plans would make refugee status temporary, reduce support, tear apart families, and leave many in a state of limbo for years. This tactic does not weaken forces on the right flank; it emboldens them. Reform UK welcomed the announcement, while far-right activists celebrated a perceived shattering of the political mainstream.

A Spiral of Harshness and an Authoritarian Future

For the far right across Europe, the "political boon" of migration crises continues to deliver. A critical lesson must be reiterated: when you engage in a strategy of cruelty to outbid those whose entire agenda is built on cruelty, defeat is inevitable. Even if governments succeed in enacting "strict" policies or reduce asylum numbers, the far right will simply identify other racial minorities to scapegoat, dehumanise, and hold responsible.

This aggression shows no signs of diminishing. Transforming vast regions like the Sahara and the Mediterranean into death zones is not enough for those who frame their struggle as a cultural war, rooted in ethnic myths and "repatriation" fantasies that in the end threaten Europe's own minority citizens.

The ideas of the far right are gaining momentum, forging alliances globally and enabling migration to be used as a vehicle for authoritarian transformation. Internationally, influential voices are echoing this rhetoric, with recent policy papers from a previous American government calling to end the "age of large-scale movement" and to oppose Europe's "cultural dilution". Such statements are hailed as victories by far-right parties within Europe.

The Coming Decade: Fortification or Pushback?

What, then, does the future hold for fortress Europe? The EU's chosen path appears set. With the new EU migration agreement taking full effect in 2026, another milestone in securitisation will be reached. Rather than countering narratives of never-ending emergency, the pact essentially makes crisis into standard policy. It will allow member states to speed up border processes, lengthen detention, and limit asylum rights during broadly stated "emergency circumstances" of mass arrival. Critics argue these measures are so broad that they risk turning into the norm, permanently eroding rights across the continent.

In a world full of reasons for forced displacement—from war and genocide to economic exploitation and climate disaster—ramped-up border security, mass deportations, and a widespread approach of cruelty will never "solve" migration. What they accomplish is the erosion of democratic standards, widening social rifts, and amplified racist hostility.

Given that migration has become the central issue of the current authoritarian turn, it is exactly around migration that resistance must form. How we will remember the decade from 2026 to 2035 is, ultimately, up to us. Carrying out rescue operations in the Mediterranean, disrupting immigration raids and deportation flights, and reclaiming cities as spaces of plurality and mutual support—these are all vitally important actions that defend our fellow people and challenge the anti-democratic movements growing around us.