The European Union needs to keep to its ethical standards and international law and cease the ill-treatment of migrants. Ideally, it would conduct meaningful, sustainable and collaborative economic projects with the countries from which people flee to provide proper living conditions with local governments, instead of exploiting other states and then abusing its fleeing population.

By 2025, however, the stance of both the EU and its member states on migration appears less nuanced. Migration-skeptic rhetoric has also been adopted by centrist and left-wing parties. Yet one of the most glaring examples of a universal anti-immigrant narrative, built on manipulation and fear-mongering, is Poland. the country has grappled with a crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, orchestrated by Minsk in collaboration with Moscow, which has instrumentally used migrants.