Bart Peeters-Akkermans is a journalist, researcher and translator currently based in Brussels. https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/contributor/bart-peeters-akkermans/rss en Crises & Conflicts Innovation & Technology Wed, 06 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Bart Peeters-Akkermans https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2016/04/06/anti-refugee-sentiments-reveal-a-withering-europe https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2016/04/06/anti-refugee-sentiments-reveal-a-withering-europe As Europe battles economic and refugee “crises,” independent researcher Bart Peeters-Akkermans argues that European leaders have exercised a “damage maximization” strategy, creating hardship and hatred for refugees and their own citizens. Enlarging the “zone of prosperity” is the way forward, he says.