Europe is showing its true, ugly-very ugly self....!!

Observing the recent developments in Europe, one can not but feel utter shame and disgust.

The refugee crisis that has been troubling our continent for the past year, has finally managed to bring the EU on the verge of disintegration.

The Schengen Agreement, that offers us citizens one of the greatest benefits from our country's EU membership, is under threat.

In most countries, the Far-Right is gaining support, fences are being put in place, anti-immigrant protests and sentiments are on the rise, while our governments are still debating how to respond.

European nations haven't managed to coordinate their efforts in dealing with this challenge. While some, like Sweden and Germany, have done more than their fair share, others preferred to do the minimum possible.

Most Eastern European states, have turned even anti-European and decided to vote in governments that are openly Euro-skeptic, anti-immigrant and conservative. Empowering of course the British skeptics, which since the very beginning of this humanitarian crisis, found just another reason to turn their backs to the rest of Europe. They have now added the immigration crisis into their list of reasons to leave the EU.

Poland has turned a page and from one of the most enthusiastic new EU member states, they have now elected the far-right Law and Justice party (PiS) in both chambers of parliament. It has spent its first two months in power tightening its grip over the security services, the constitutional tribunal and the civil service. Soon after that, it has been purging the country’s public media. (The Economist)

Poland, together with Hungary now form a rising Euro-skeptic block in the Eastern Europe, promoting, nationalism and populism, where there once was optimism and hope for the European project. Naturally bringing these two countries in collision with Germany, who seems to be increasingly the only nation still supporting European integration.

Others like Slovakia and Cyprus, have openly stated that they would only accept Christian refugees, while the Baltic states have also turned sour on the idea of accepting Muslims.

In this absolute ugly mess, Greece's EU partners shamelessly have often called for the country to be kicked out of the Schengen Agreement, because apparently "it can not guard its own borders!"

This is plain scapegoating, just as they did with the euro crisis. Instead of admitting that the euro-zone was very badly designed, they blamed all its failures on its weakest link.

Now they are placing Greece again on the defendant seat, blaming it for the worsening refugee crisis. It is a disgraceful claim, as Greece once again is being unfairly treated by its so called "partners".

First of all Greece has mainly sea borders with its neighbor-Turkey, which the Europeans decided to give 3 billion euro in order to bribe them and make them help Europe with the problem. To no avail of course.

It is very difficult to guard such extended shorelines against such volumes of people arriving; no nation was ever prepared for such thing. But a continent with some of the most prosperous nations of this world, should have been.

It is Europe collectively that should have already coped on and created a unified force to deal with the problem; either a common European army or an empowered FRONTEX, in which all EU countries would contribute and be part of.

Greece is not the desired destination for the refugees, the rich states of the North are. Thus making this problem a European one, not just a Greek or Turkish one.

In addition, Greek migration minister Ioannis Mouzalas has revealed that a Belgian minister suggested Greece should "push" refugee boats "back into the sea" to help solve the migration crisis on the country's shores during a meeting in Amsterdam. (Sputnik News)

There are simply no words to describe the above statement. It is at least vile and outrageous. If Greece ever openly proceeded in such practices, I am sure that countries like Belgium would be the first to throw stones at it for being undemocratic, breaking humanitarian laws, non fitting for the European family etc.

But behind the scenes, the rich European states are unveiling their true selfish, arrogant and fascist face. If they really cared about solving the refugee crisis, they would have acted years ago. This problem has been accumulating, confined in the borders of Jordan, Turkey and Iraq for years now.

Why hasn't Europe, too absorbed by sorting out its own finances, foreseen the potential disaster and done something about it? Assist the Middle Eastern countries and help the refugees to stay in the region. Offer them humanitarian assistance and use diplomacy, to convince other rich nations of the world to contribute in this effort.

Now that the crisis has reach a breaking point, they are seeking someone to take the blame and be ridiculed. And so it is Greece again who must answer for the mess, while the finger must be pointed to the rich Western European countries and their arms industries who have been supplying weapons to the region, fueling this disastrous conflict, while they are making profit out of it.

In addition, Europe's governments and media must answer for their support of US foreign policy in the region, supporting the Syrian rebels and fanning the conflict in order to destabilize the region. Once you meddle with other countries' internal affairs, who must be able to accept the consequences. Most EU governments have been supporting America and its policies in Syria.

Also we must not forget that Europe has been where Syria is now in the past, after WW2. Especially the Eastern European countries, which have seen waves of refugees escaping to the Western part of the continent over the past decades, one would expect them now to be very supportive towards the Syrians.

It was not long ago, that the stereotype of the "Polish plumber" stealing jobs from Western Europeans, was also shaming our continent. Europe has become an ugly place to live and I am increasingly disgusted with where the continent and the EU are heading.

My view of Europe is an open society with open internal borders, a beacon of humanity and prosperity that's true to its values that it so much prides itself of. There is so little of this on display nowadays and as Europeans are increasingly turning more xenophobic and nationalist, I hold little hope for a future united Europe, that will be a happy place to live in.

The new Left and Right division of Europe.

Ever since the economic crisis broke out, new divisions have formed in Europe.

This time they are not restricted necessarily to the previous geographical borders.

In the past we had a Western Europe, that has adopted capitalism.

While the Eastern part of our continent saw communist regimes being established, all united under a Russian led Soviet block.

After the collapse of communism in Europe, we witnessed an acceleration of the democratization of the majority of its Eastern states.

Consequently leading to more markets opening up in the East,plus the expansion of opportunities for wealthy Western companies.

While the Eastern states benefited hugely from the large investment influx that they needed, to rebuild their infrastructure.

This reality sadly did not last long enough. The economic crisis, exposed major faults in Europe's single currency, the euro.

The continent soon was divided once more between the "sluggish" conservative economies of the South and the more liberalized, adaptable and competitive ones of the North.

The financial turmoil combined with the refugee crisis, gave rise to many "radical" political parties across Europe,both from the Right and the Left.

Our continent became a battleground between old competing ideologies again;capitalism and socialism. This time though, it is more of a cross-nation class struggle, than competing ideologies of Europe's superpowers.

Almost in every EU member state, we are observing a turn towards the Left, the Right or both, with Liberal or Centrist parties trying to keep the balance.

And while the European elites are heavily preoccupied with making sure that Leftist parties do not gain more influence, they do little to stop the rise of the far-Right.

When Syriza rose to power in Greece, it faced a harsh and unanimous opposition from all other euro-zone governments, led by Germany. Other Leftist movements in Spain, Portugal and Ireland are similarly treated.

Recently the Portuguese President Cavaco Silva, who belongs to the Right-wing party PSD, made some unfortunate remarks that revealed how intense this struggle really is.

What he said is basically that he would not allow in government leftist parties, like Bloco (Portuguese Syriza or Podemos) and the Communists, that oppose Europe’s regime of austerity and NATO.

The President effectively conveyed that he cared more about what financial institutions and the European establishment think of the Portuguese elections than what Portuguese people want. (Broadsheet)

Such painfully honest but also arrogant statements, haven't been made by a European leader for a long time. They echo the cold war era and show the commitment and determination of our continent's leaders, to proceed with their plans regardless the backlash of the public opinion.

It is worth noticing that Europe's elites are tolerating nationalist governments like that of Hungary, plus recently Poland and many other European nations. In addition they are not as worried about the rise of the far-Right and in fact in some states like Finland, they form coalitions with them.

They must not forget, that the far-Right was also responsible for the worst crimes and disasters that our continent has ever had to endure. Their tolerance towards them is not just disrespectful, but dangerous for Europe's future unification aspirations.

Another question is what the establishment's plans are, if austerity and the diminution of our social security rights are here to stay for the long term.

Both groups-the establishment, conservative and Right-wing or the Left-wing, people oriented and socialist- have been locked in this tug-of-war for dominance of their interests or ideology.

It seems that they are doing so just to settle old accounts, but they are missing the point. Europe and the world are not the same anymore. New powers are emerging fast and we are heading towards a multi-polar world, where our continent is in danger of becoming irrelevant.

Our societies and economies must adapt and change, if we want to still remain a wealthy region of the world. But the solution lies somewhere in the middle, rather in the absolute dominance of either ideology or approach.

The establishment, threatened by the competition they face by emerging, yet poorer regions of the world, in which workers enjoy little benefits, want to limit those of Europeans.

On the other hand the socialist groups, want rightfully to protect these social rights. But in their effort they often make bad choices, driven by populism, lack of experience and their need to gain support from the ordinary citizens.

Syriza for example, after their victory and in a show of dominance, reversed many of the austerity policies that have been adopted by the previous government. Some were just, while others were nothing more but populist decisions to satisfy the demands of their voters.

What the voters of one party may expect though, is not always the best for a country's interests. And here is where the Left often fails.

As it does not have the resources to establish itself in a country's politics, it relies solely on the support of the average voter. And to maintain their support, the Left often sticks to anachronistic policies that are not necessarily viable, or they obstruct progress for the country as a whole.

Similarly, the establishment is highly influenced by the interests of those who finance the political parties, which represent it. As result, their policies are benefiting mainly the rich few of the society, those with power and money; and that is unacceptable in any society that wants to be called a true democracy.

Sadly Europe's politics are still locked in outdated ideologies and vested interests, obstructing the development or promotion of ideas that will offer long term solutions and a vision for the continent's future.

We need a balance and an absolute coordination of both political outlooks, not the pointless struggle between them.

Europe must secure its citizens' social rights and invest in their future development. It is outrageous that European elites chose to save the continent's banks pouring billions into them, while our youths are left with little opportunities.

The best investment that a capable leader could make is in its nation's future, which is the young people. Ensuring their adequate education and career prospects, will mean that the country will have a rich and capable pool of human resources in the long term.

Which in return, will increase competitiveness and innovation, encouraging economic recovery. Protecting the rights of all workers must not be seen as negative or costly. In a market based economy, having a prosperous and able to consume working force, is vital for the survival of a nation's internal market.

It is illogical what happened in Greece, which was the complete destruction of the country's market, by imposing policies that impoverished the middle class.

We need reforms and a clamp down of old and outdated practices, policies and benefits of certain groups in a society. To achieve those, it is obvious that some policies that many liberals and center-right wing leaders are promoting must be adopted.

The problem is that their proposals are targeting mainly the lower or middle classes, while the upper class of Europe will not have to compromise or be affected by them. In fact these proposals are there to protect and serve them.

What we need is not to decide whether Europe turns Left or Right for solutions; rather find ways to utilize the best of what both have to offer. We must find a compromise between the interests of the ordinary people and reform Europe's economies, in order to compete with the rest of the world.

It is not the right time to stick to ideologies, rather encourage dialogue that will promote ideas. But ultimately, it is the establishment that needs to listen to the citizens and take into consideration their concerns. If their vision for the future of Europe is to be successful, it will need the support of every social group not just the top 1%.