How Europe Seals Its Borders and Sacrifices Human Rights
It begins with a paragraph – a legal text that reveals nothing of the coldness it brings into the world. Article 72 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is a sentence of legal formulas, sober and factual: "This Title shall not affect the exercise of the responsibilities incumbent upon Member States with regard to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security."
A sentence that promises freedom, protection of sovereignty. But in reality, this article is a free pass for coldness, hardness, and rejection. A shield behind which governments hide when they turn away migrants at their borders, when they tear families apart, and when they reduce the right to asylum to a bargaining chip. A tool that allows states to switch off their humanity and bend international law.
Europe’s Fortress: Coldness in Paragraphs
At Europe’s external borders, Article 72 has long since become the standard excuse. Whether Greece, Italy, Poland, or now Germany – more and more member states are invoking the "protection of public order" to do what was considered taboo just a few years ago: turning away people seeking protection. They speak of "security," but it is about something else: fear, power, control.
In Germany, the new government under Friedrich Merz and Alexander Dobrindt continues this course with frightening consistency. They rely on pushbacks at the borders, restrict family reunification, and have resumed deportations to Syria – a country still torn by brutal civil war. They speak of "order," but it is the order of coldness, the order of exclusion.
A Europe of Walls and Fences
But Germany is not alone. Poland has sealed its borders with Belarus, Lithuanian border guards push migrants back without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum. In Greece, coast guard boats drag nets through the Mediterranean – not to rescue, but to prevent. In Italy, NGOs trying to save people from the sea are being shut out.
Article 72 becomes a weapon – a weapon with which Europe shields itself from the world’s cries for help. And while the member states defend this "sovereignty," the idea of a united, solidary Europe sinks into a sea of barbed wire, patrol boats, and deportation centers.
Human Rights in Ruins: The Silence from Berlin
And what about Germany? What about the new government under Friedrich Merz, which proudly calls itself the "defender of freedom"? It remains silent. Silent about human rights violations at Europe’s borders, silent about reports of abuse, silent about the tragedies in the Mediterranean.
More than that – Merz and Dobrindt have adopted Article 72 into their arsenal. They speak of "security," of "order," of "protecting their own population." But in reality, they are only protecting their own power, their own political agenda. They have hijacked the concept of "protection" to build walls where help is needed.
And while the United States under Donald Trump openly commits human rights violations – separating children from their parents, deporting migrants without trial, locking asylum seekers in cages – there is no word of criticism from Berlin. No outcry, no protest. When Trump deported masses of migrants without a hearing, the German government remained silent. When families were torn apart, Germany stayed quiet.
The Fortress and the Mirror: Europe and the USA
The United States sets the example, and Europe watches in fascination. While Trump closed the borders, Europe builds its own fortress. While in the United States, children are torn from their parents' arms, Europe seals off its shores. But there is a difference – Trump never tried to hide his cruelty. He was proud of his policy of exclusion.
Europe, on the other hand, dresses its hardness in the guise of law. Article 72 TFEU – a paragraph as inconspicuous as a knife in a coat. A legal sentence that allows states to switch off their humanity. A tool for governments that speak of "European values" on the one hand while pushing people back into misery on the other.
A Europe That Sells Its Soul
Article 72 – this is the paragraph that allows Europe to look away. The paragraph that grants states the right to hide behind fences and walls. But what remains of a Europe that sells its soul? What remains of a European Union ashamed of its own values?
What remains is a union of hypocrisy, a union of double standards. A union that preaches human rights and builds walls. A union that promises protection and erects barriers. And a Germany that fits into this union – not as a moral leader, but as one of the most eager defenders of the new Fortress Europe.
And while Article 72 serves as a shield for the powerful, the powerless are left with nothing but the cold waters of the Mediterranean and the steel gates at Europe’s borders. A wall of paragraphs – erected in the name of security, built on the ruins of humanity.
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