Christopher Caldwell, a professional journalist and news editor at the Weekly Standard, gave a lecture Monday discussing the future of Europe and how the European Union is plagued by myriad crises. 

During this lecture, which is an installment of NC State’s John W. Pope Lecture Series, Caldwell outlined two main crises that Europe is currently facing: the immigration crisis and the financial crises of the European Union. 

Caldwell, a Harvard graduate, discussed how countries in Europe, such as Germany, are experiencing a massive influx of immigrants due to conflicts in the Middle East. 

“Germany received twice as many newcomers last year than births in their country,” Caldwell said. “And considering these immigrants are predominantly Muslim, large social adjustments will take place.”

Caldwell discussed how this influx of refugees was completely unexpected and unprecedented. He said Europe does not know how to handle this problem effectively, mainly because there is no way to effectively handle it. 

Migrants are very rational, according to Caldwell. He said that because the places they are coming from are so poor and insufficient for human needs, they will do anything they can to get to Europe and stay there. 

“Angela Merkel and her aids often say that fences don’t help and barbed wire is no solution, but they are wrong,” Caldwell said. “We know this because 92 percent of asylum seekers have settled in just 10 states.”

Many of Caldwell’s statements were considered controversial.

“If Europeans are unwilling or unable to place conditions on all this pressure on migration, how capable will they be in policing the migrants once they arrive on European soil?” Caldwell said.

In regard to the economic crisis of the European Union, Caldwell said, “The EU is failing at an economic level.”

Caldwell said that while the European Union seemed like a good idea to unite the economic forces in Europe in the 1990s, today it is proving to be a catastrophic failure for many nations involved.

An audience member who was a native European asked Caldwell why he thinks the European Union has failed. 

“The EU has failed both politically and economically,” Caldwell said. “Many Europeans who defend the EU describe the organization as the coming together of nations so that Europe can live in cooperation rather than in national rivalry, but I totally don’t buy it, and I think that it is totally false.”

Many students were surprised at what Caldwell had to say, including John Kripner, a freshman studying engineering.

“That is definitely not something discussed very often,” Kripner said.

Katie Valchar, a sophomore studying chemical engineering and French, said that some of the statements Caldwell made about the European Union were a little over-generalized. 

However, Valchar said she was glad she came and described the lecture as informative and thought-provoking.