On New Years Eve 2016 German police received hundreds of complaints of crimes including sexual assaults and robberies occurring in the vicinity of the Cologne Central Railway station. Many blamed recently arrived asylum seekers for the attacks. In this week's podcast François Bonnet of the CNRS, explains why we have struggled to balance our righteous indignation at the attacks with our fear of being labelled a 'racist'.

On Saturday January 30th 2016, Frauke Petry, the leader of the Alternatives for Freedom party said that German police should use armed force if necessary to prevent illegal migrants from crossing the German border. On Friday, February 5th 2016, Polly Pallister-Wilkins, an Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam came to the 'Monday Morning Meetings on Migration' podcast to discuss what Petry’s remarks tell us about the changing tone of Europe’s response to the...