European leaders may differ about how to respond to the asylum-seekers and migrants surging their way, but they seem to agree they face a crisis of enormous proportions. Germany’s Angela Merkel has called it “the biggest challenge I have seen in European affairs in my time as chancellor.” Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has warned that the migrant crisis could pose a major threat to the “soul” of Europe.

On 27 August, a group of children and adults stand at a reception centre waiting to be registered for a temporary transit visa at a reception centre near the town of Gevgelija in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia after crossing the border from Idomeni in Greece. In late August 2015 in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, more than 52,000 people have been registered at the border by police in the town of Gevgelija, after entering from Greece, since June 2015. Since July 2015, the rate of refugees and migrants transiting through the country has increased to approximately 2,000 to 3000 people per day. Women and children now account for nearly one third of arrivals. An estimated 12 per cent of the women are pregnant. Many are escaping conflict and insecurity in their home countries of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the Syrian Arab Republic. There are children of all ages traveling with their families. Some are unaccompanied minors aged 16–18 years who are traveling in groups with friends. They are arriving in the country from Greece, transiting to Serbia and further to Hungary, from where they generally aim to reach other countries in the European Union.

**Families stand at a reception centre waiting to be registered for a temporary transit visa at a reception centre near the town of Gevgelija in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. | © UNICEF/UNI195499/Klincarov

But before we get carried away by such apocalyptic rhetoric, we should recognize that if there is a crisis, it is one of politics, not capacity.

There is no shortage of drama in thousands of desperate people risking life and limb to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean in rickety boats or enduring the hazards of land journeys through the Balkans.

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