Europe's Multicultural Society Goes Bust
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel recently argued that multiculturalism had failed. My latest column for CNN.com examines how Europe’s large immigrant population and related social problems may force governments to adopt American-style tougher law enforcement and a less generous welfare state.
Speaking in Potsdam on Saturday, Chancellor Merkel told a gathering of young Christian Democrats that multiculturalism has failed.
That might seem to be saying the obvious.
Item: December 20, 2007. Two young men are smoking on a Munich subway train, where smoking is prohibited. A fellow passenger, a 76-year-old pensioner, asks them to stop. What happened next was captured on surveillance cameras. The young men call the old man a "s--- German" and savagely beat and kick him, fracturing his skull. Other passengers on the train failed to intervene. One of the attackers was a Greek immigrant, 17. The other, 20, was born in Germany of Turkish parents.
The Munich train story captured the attention of the country, symbolizing an apparent deterioration of public order driven by multicultural immigration. …
Chancellor Merkel's Potsdam speech raised the question: Could more be done to accelerate immigrant adaptation? Unfortunately the speech offered few answers.
Quietly, some Europeans are wondering whether Europe -- by stumbling into an American-style immigration policy -- has willy-nilly forced itself to follow other American policies as well:
-- Tougher law enforcement and longer prison sentences to fight crime.
-- A less generous welfare state that compels migrants to work rather than collect benefits paid for by the native-born.
-- A stronger assertion of national identity -- and a more emphatic demand that newcomers adapt to the existing society.
These days, many American conservatives are warning that the United States is going the way of Europe. But maybe the real story is the reverse: Is it Europe that will soon be imitating the United States?
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