The year 2015 was almost an "annus horribilis" for the EU. As Daniel Gros wrote in a concise article published in Social Europe, two main instruments of EU integration - the euro and the Schengen system - have been severely challenged.

The eurozone survived mainly because of the fact that, at the last moment, Germany halted all the strong, vocal demands from the new Greek government for a light debt payment system. The immovable German politician and Minister of Economy Wolfgang Schauble has just declared that "Greece could take a holiday from the euro," and all of a sudden Greece organized new elections and the new government accepted the new austerity program, which was even harsher than the previous one. So the eurozone was safe again because a member state was shown the door for the first time, and it chose to stay.

Now what is at stake is the Schengen Agreement, which allows EU member states to dismantle internal border controls. The move was extremely revolutionary at the time it was implemented and has given excellent results in terms of fluidity of exchange. It also saved a lot of money for member states, as underlined by Gros in his article. As a matter of fact, nobody really loves the EU. Even French economist and politician Jacques Delors once said that "nobody can fall in love with a single market." However, the stability, prosperity and welfare created by European integration can hardly be dismissed by any member state. Reinstating internal border controls would be so costly and so ineffective that no European government can contemplate such a perspective without getting goosebumps.

The problem with the Schengen system is basically the absence of real protection at the external borders and the absence of coordination between security forces among member states. With the recent events in Cologne, the refugee issue came to the agenda from a very dangerous angle. Refugees have been shown as the culprits of attacks on citizens during New Year's festivities. Whether it is correct or not was not really at stake, because people were so tense and anxious that the spark ignited a huge fire and the extreme right was able to mobilize large masses.

Germany, through the courageous policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel, has opted for a clever approach to the refugee problem. Showing an opening for a limited number of people and helping others to remain and attain an acceptable standard of life in the places they have already taken refuge - mainly Turkey. This approach has been fought by a violent and traditional extreme-right reaction. Hungary has started to build a wall and reinforced fences on its borders and Poland refused to accept a couple thousand refugees. Step by step, far-right European parties started to embrace the fascist rhetoric that excludes migrants, refugees and other "outsiders." It is understandable when such slogans come from real far-right entities like France's National Front, but when former French President Nicholas Sarkozy, in an attempt to look presidential for the coming elections, choses to say that the "Schengen is dead," he is playing with fire.

What is at stake in the EU is not any better protection at the external borders. Turkey is hosting perhaps as much as 2.5 million refugees. Trying to stop some of them through increased security measures will not solve anything. Even if such measures could stop half of the refugees trying to enter the EU, still tens of thousands will be waiting at the borders.

All conservative parties should see the situation as it is. Refugees have become a European problem since some - only a tiny fraction - of them wanted to leave Turkey. It has given a terrible trump card to the hands of fascist movements. But you do not fight fascism by acknowledging that what it says can be partly right.

Incredibly enough Merkel remains the last important conservative political figure against the fascist rhetoric of sending migrants back. As published in Jutarnji list, a liberal Croatian newspaper: "In the east, from the Adriatic to the Baltic, [there is] a wide neoconservative coalition hostile to migrants. In the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Estonia nobody wants refugees. On top of it there is the new alliance between [Polish conservative politician] Jaroslaw Kaczynski and [Hungarian President] Viktor Orban. Sweden, Denmark and Norway, countries that were deeply committed to human rights and solidarity, close their borders to asylum seekers from the Middle East. The German chancellor has maneuvered skillfully in 2015. What about 2016?"

Merkel probably needs much better support, because we need her to keep her stance before things get out of hand.