Over half a million migrants applied for asylum within the European Union in the first half of this year. That’s up nearly 30 percent compared to the year before, the highest for that time period since the migrant crisis of 2014 to 2016.

The little Italian island of Lampedusa is on the front lines. It has a population of 6,000. Between September 12 and 13, 7,000 migrants arrived. Having more migrants than locals is a recipe for disaster. Some have broken out of the asylum center and set up roadblocks.

In Italy, 126,000 migrants have arrived this year—double the figure for the same time period last year.

Other EU countries are also struggling. Thirty percent of all asylum applicants went to Germany—more than any other country by far. One of the big political debates of the summer has been: Do swimming pools need round-the-clock police protection? Pools have been unable to remain open as staff have quit or refused to come to work because of attacks. The attacks come predominantly from Muslim migrants—but few journalists or politicians want to talk about it.

All the signs indicate it’s going to get worse. Libya’s floods may have killed over 10,000 people. The city of Derna, once home to 100,000 people, has had large parts of it destroyed. Around 3,000 have died in Morocco’s earthquake.

Man-made crises could prove deadlier. Both Niger and Mali have undergone coups over the summer. Sudan is in civil war, forcing an estimated 4 million people to flee their homes and 6 million to the brink of famine. Chad and the Central African Republic face internal violence. Terrorist groups pledging allegiance to the Islamic State or al Qaeda are active in Mali and Burkina Faso.

One of Europe’s responses to the 2016 migrant crisis was to pay a group of dictators to lock migrants in concentration camps. Turkey blocked migrants from crossing in from the Middle East. Governments in Sudan and Algeria blocked Africans from reaching the Mediterranean coast. Some of these governments have fallen, leaving gaps in Europe’s border wall.

2015 to 2016 rocked Europe. It took Alternative für Deutschland from being a small, almost nerdy, economics-focused party and made them a mass movement. It propelled the successor to the World War ii-era fascist party into power in Italy and led to a whole generation of politicians modeled after Benito Mussolini.

What happens in a second round? Those who talked tough on migrants are in the government now.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could lose her popularity if she doesn’t do something soon. Her car was blocked in Lampedusa by protesting migrants. Yet she doesn’t sound like she knows what do to. “The question is not how to unload the problem; it’s how to stop the arrivals in Italy, and I still don’t see any concrete answers,” she told Italian state tv channel Rai 1.

These hundreds of thousands of migrants are causing real problems. Those calling for answers empathize with those suffering in North Africa. But they see that bringing hundreds of thousands of young men into Europe is not the answer. This does not make them racist, extreme or far-right.

The problem is that none of Europe’s mainstream parties will talk about the crisis. Of the few that do, some are genuinely extreme or far-right. Others are forced to work with the extreme parties, as it’s the only way to deal with a crisis that affects all of Europe.

This has been the dynamic since 2016. It has led parties that were considered unacceptable to dominate in some countries and take power in others.

But what if these powers still fail to solve the problem? Where does Italy go from Meloni?

For many years, the West has been led by leaders with similar principles and values, regardless of what country they live in. They believe in free trade, free health care, confronting climate change, and tolerating—or encouraging—immigration. They see themselves as tolerant, compassionate people. In Europe, they’ve enshrined their ideas in law. It’s not just in national law; it’s in international law treaties and foundational documents like the European Convention on Human Rights. This convention does more than enshrine the basic rights included in the United States’ Constitution—those of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These liberal elites are more compassionate than that. People have a right to family life. Anyone claiming to be a refugee has a right to claim asylum. People have a right to clean air and water, which leads to climate-change court cases.

When times are good, people go along with this. But times are getting worse. More and more are fed up.

But the consensus of the ruling elite has a lot of power. It’s embedded in the foundation of modern European states, in constitutional law and founding principles of the Council of Europe and European Union. The elites have had decades to ensure their principles are completely intertwined with the whole system of government in Europe.

When someone like Meloni gets elected—one who opposes mass migration and promises tough action—she’s stuck.

There’s a simple solution: Take the migrants from Lampedusa and drop them back in Africa. Whether migrants are picked up in European waters or arrested on European shores, take them back. Stick them on the shores of Libya or Algeria.

Arguably, this is also the compassionate solution. Around 20,000 migrants have died or disappeared trying to cross the Mediterranean since 2014. Taking all the migrants back to Africa removes all incentive for them to cross. It would save thousands of lives.

It’s also completely illegal. Under national and international human rights laws, all migrants must go through an asylum process. With over a million arriving per year, Europe lacks the resources to process the applicants in a reasonable length of time. Most migrants are allowed in or disappear before they can be deported.

Liberal elites have confronted the fed-up citizens of Europe with two options: Accept indefinite mass migration—watch their welfare states collapse, their country’s culture change, their cities become dangerous, and their friends be attacked; or they can break the law.

They could try to find a legal way to remove constitutional protections for migrants from constitutional law and international treaties. But it will take years, and they don’t have it.

Europe will have to surrender to mass migration—or smash the system. As the crisis gets worse, they’ll take the second option.

If Meloni is not willing to skirt the rule of law and deport migrants en masse, she will be replaced by someone who is.

The migrant crisis is just one of several significant pressures on Europe.

For years, we’ve warned that a radical change is coming to Europe. Daniel 8 and 11 are full of prophecy God gave around 500 years before Jesus Christ was born. Some of these prophecies have become history. In 323 b.c., a great “king of Grecia” attacked Persia, just as Daniel 8:5-7, 20-21 foretold. His name was Alexander the Great. But Daniel wrote much of the prophecy in these chapters for “the time of the end” (verse 17; Daniel 11:40).

Daniel 8:23-24 describe the rise of “a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences.” Other prophecies show this strongman arises in Germany and leads Europe. In his booklet A Strong German Leader Is Imminent, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes:

This soon-coming ruler could literally be called a king. Even if he is not, the Bible gives him that label. When the Bible talks about a king, in most cases it’s saying that this is not a democratic government. Even if he doesn’t have that title, he is going to lead like a king. This vision in Daniel shows that the European empire is about to become a lot more authoritative.

That means a massive change for Europe—a smashing of the democratic system that currently dominates. The book of Daniel describes this coming empire as a “beast”—an aggressive, warlike power, not restrained by rule of law or diplomatic niceties.

By enshrining protection for migrants at the heart of European law, Europe’s liberals have guaranteed their entire system will be brought down as a new generation of politicians confront these problems.

Watch for this new Europe to rise rapidly. To understand what the Bible says about it, and how this fits in to God’s plan for mankind, read our Trends article “Why the Trumpet Watches the Rise of a German Strongman.”