The EU’s border security boom

World Finance ^ | January 21, 2020 | Charlotte Gifford

[BeauBo]

Thirty years after celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe has gone on a wall-building spree. In its next budget cycle (2021-27), the EU plans to spend €34.9bn ($38.4bn) on border security, to help manage the tens of thousands of migrants trying to enter the region every year.

As a result, business is booming for Europe’s border security industry. A 2019 report by the Transnational Institute has revealed that a small cohort of European arms companies profit handsomely from the huge growth in the EU’s border budgets. These large companies are increasingly influential in shaping EU policy and encouraging the bloc to boost security efforts...

According to the Transnational Institute, Thales, Airbus and Leonardo are among the companies benefitting most from border security spending. For these businesses, the refugee crisis represents something of a market opportunity. Thales, which produces radar and sensor equipment, is currently developing border surveillance infrastructure for EUROSUR, the European Border Surveillance System. Meanwhile, Italian arms firm Leonardo was awarded a €67.1m ($73.7m) contract in 2017 by the European Maritime Safety Agency to supply drones for EU coastguard agencies...

Supporters of border security in Europe would argue that the spending boost is seeing results. In 2018, there were fewer than 150,000 new arrivals to Europe, according to UN data, down from more than a million in 2015.

[BeauBo]

Walls Work.

[SuperLuminal]

Too late...

Sort of like the Titanic: Should’a, would’a, could’a, but still sinking... All the EU needs is an orchestra playing and Celine to sink them a pretty song when it’s gone...