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The European Union (EU) is currently enduring the most significant migratory crisis in its history. Thousands of people and refugees, who escaped the war and poverty in their countries of origin are crossing the EU’s borders. This unpredictable crisis has been the source of a multitude of concerns for the EU and member countries. Faced with this situation, the EU has convened several summits and many ministerial meetings in order to find an agreement to manage the crisis, but national interests have prevailed over European cohesion. This crisis has shown how fragile the solidarity between European countries is under the pressure of their national public opinion and how this situation influences the functioning of European institutions and EU’s relations with its neighbours.

First we shall give a chronological account of the history of the Berlin Wall and define the reasons for its fall. A bipolar world was succeeded by a world dominated by the United States. The former members of the Warsaw Agreement entered NATO and the EU. A series of agreements progressively fixed the relations between the UE and the former republics of the USSR, the UE and Russia. With the enlargement of the UE, the question of the identity of Europe is on the agenda. The dissensions and the conflicts in countries which Russia considers as belonging to its area of influence, the competition between Russians and Westerners in strategic areas such as the Caucasus, create a climate which reminds onlookers of the climate of the Cold War and the terms « wall » « iron curtain » are frequently used by statesmen and commentators. However, in spite of wide differences, an important rapprochement process is taking place. In conclusion we shall raise the question of the Eurasian nature of Russia.