Ominous Demographic Crisis

In March, a new European Commission report pointed to the “serious consequences of an aging population on Europe’s economies” (EUobserver.com, March 16). The problem? “No country in the EU currently has a birth rate sufficient to renew its population ….” The article stated the EU must exceed its target employment rate of 70 percent because the increasing number of retirement-ready employees is causing a drop in the labor force.

One possible solution would be to attract more immigrants. But the report ruled this out because “its positive effects will be only temporary.”

Most Europeans would agree. Sentiment across Europe is swaying more and more against immigration. Another report, published around the same time by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, found that almost half of Europeans had a “critical attitude toward cultural and religious diversity” (ibid.).

Even while commentators boast about the secularization of Europe, the Trumpet has long contended that religion will increasingly dominate the Continent—and intolerance toward non-”Christian” faiths will only increase.

So how will the Continent resolve its labor void? Our September/October 2003 article “Who Will Fill the Labor Void?” poses a particularly startling and unsavory scenario of how Europe will deal with this demographic crisis: forced labor.

It is important to understand, as this article describes, how nations like Germany have dealt with similar problems historically, and how the Bible clearly prophesies that a German-led Europe will resort to these same tactics in times just ahead.