European leaders are exploiting unfounded fears of a repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis | Mujtaba Rahman

The EU and its members have already adopted hardline policies that make an Afghan refugee crisis unlikely

As the fallout from Afghanistan continues, EU leaders are working themselves into a frenzy over the risk of a replay of the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis. At a news conference in Berlin on Monday, Armin Laschet, Angela Merkel's likely successor, argued: We should not send the signal that Germany can take in everyone in need. The focus must be on humanitarian aid on site, unlike in 2015." Though the French president, Emmanuel Macron, recognised Europe's duty to take in some of the rights defenders, artists, journalists and campaigners who are now threatened", it came with a major caveat. Europe cannot face the consequences of the current situation on its own. We must anticipate and protect ourselves against sizeable flows of irregular migration," he said in a press briefing.

Their concerns obscure the reality that the EU and its member states have spent years taking hardline measures to reduce irregular migration. This will prevent a rerun of 2015, when more than 1.2 million refugees sought asylum within the EU (0.16% of Europe's total population), sparking political opposition based on the supposed threat that these people posed to the EU.