- Europe is more fragile than we thought – TV 2

– We are experiencing increased vulnerability, a sense that the order we have built in Europe and globally in recent decades is more fragile than we thought, said Brende his Tuesday morning informed the Storting about the foreign policy situation.

– European cooperation put to the test of migration, economic crises, terrorist danger and that international rules put under pressure, said the foreign Minister in the introduction to the report.

Brende point to wars and conflicts in neighboring areas and fragile states in North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan, with problems such as radicalization, violent extremism, weak government controls and high unemployment.

He also notes that Russia is more assertive and unpredictable.

– 2014 and 2015 were difficult years in Norwegian foreign policy. But we must brace ourselves for 2016 can be even harder, said Brende.

Crisis

Brende is supported by the director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Ulf Sverdrup.

– the EU is always in crisis, but right now there are many crises simultaneously, said Sverdrup to TV 2. He points out relations with Russia, the debt crisis, Britain’s possible EU exit and lack of confidence in European government leaders themselves.

– But migration issue is the biggest problem right now. And it is urgent to find a solution, says Sverdrup who think it is time that Norway sees the seriousness of the situation.

Continued pressure

While it is still going 2,000 to 3,000 migrants and refugees to the Greek islands from Turkey every day, Austria has started a domino effect in which the countries along the migration route north in Europe has in practice closed borders.

over 20,000 have thus stranded in Greece until now.

in an internal memo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs drawn a dark and dramatic picture of the future of Europe.

in the note, which VG have accessed, outlines a department director and a senior advisor how refugee crisis may develop in the future.

they believe the migration pressures will persist even with the most optimistic scenarios for peace and stability in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

they predict divisions within Europe, political polarization and probability of new terrorist attacks.

– severe for Norway

The foreign policy situation can become very serious, says Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre.

– You do not need a leaked memo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to understand it. Failure to follow the situation in the last month, one sees that it is an extraordinary serious situation underway. And because it is not on our borders, then I think we might not have acted us enough the political situation in this. Here are parts of the EU and EEA cooperation and cross-border cooperation at stake and it is severe for Norway, Støre says to TV2.

(2 TV / NTB)