How the tide of migration is changing European politics - BBC News

A surge in boats carrying migrants from North Africa is changing Europe's politics, says Nick Robinson.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsEurope migrant crisisImage source, ReutersImage caption, There is no shortage of people prepared to pay huge sums to get on boats bound for EuropeBy Nick RobinsonPresenter, Today programmeThe number of boats carrying migrants from North Africa across the Mediterranean is growing fast - but Europe is struggling to come to terms with this mass movement of people. The BBC Today programme's Nick Robinson has spent the past week looking close-up at the impact of refugees from Africa all the way to Germany.

Tunisia in North Africa is now the launch pad for the majority of migrants who take the risk-laden journey across the Mediterranean Sea. There, I find hopes and dreams as well as desperation.

"I just want to be a basketballer," says Mohammed "BB" Lain Barrie, who has travelled 5,000km (3,100 miles) from his home country, Sierra Leone. "I know I'd be good," he says. "I want to make it for my family. My dream is to go to the United States to play basketball."

His face lights up as he talks. Yet just a few miles down the coast is a reminder of the risks he, along with tens of thousands more, is willing to take.

Image caption, Mohammed dreams of crossing to Europe and becoming a basketball playerFishing nets lie on the dockside of the port of La Lusa. But all too often the daily catch here includes the dead bodies of migrants who perished when their badly made boats sank or capsized.

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