The Guardian view on global migration: it’s part of Europe’s future
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Version 0 of 1. The numbers are on every news bulletin, yet they remain too big to absorb: a million people to Europe this year, maybe even more next year. A surge of humanity, many desperate for physical safety, others wanting economic security, an education, a chance to get on. There is talk of perhaps 50 million people on the move within a decade, as climate change, desertification and population explosion add to local insecurity and disrupt opportunities to search for work in neighbouring states. Often overlooked in the debate on migration, these are the complexities of the African dimension. The overarching question as EU ministers met their African counterparts in Malta to address a phenomenon that has been building for years, and has now reached historic proportions, is how to manage such a large inflow of refugees and migrants. Sweden, the most generous of European hosts, has run out of temporary accommodation and says it has no choice but to introduce temporary border controls. In Germany, Angela Merkel is faced with the greatest political challenge of her career. Donald Tusk, president of the EU council, warned on Thursday that the Schengen treaty itself, the guarantee of free, untrammelled movement between 26 European countries, is at risk. Meanwhile the migrants face worse: a life-threatening sea crossing, a daunting and perilous trek, perhaps a doomed attempt to cling to a Eurostar train, with no certainty of a welcome at their hoped-for destination. Related: Britain must respect the rights of refugees | Letters The EU-African summit served at the very least as a reminder that Europe’s migration and refugee conundrum cannot be reduced to the fallout from Middle Eastern crises and wars: Africa matters very much. Strategies adopted so far have not worked. Fortress Europe-type talk of emergency and security ups the demand for razor wire and sea patrols. Yet it is growing cold, the seas are rough, the coils of wire are spreading across south-eastern Europe, and still people are not deterred. They merely seek out different routes. In this context, the talks at Valletta produced the most feeble of offers: more money to support Africa’s own efforts to clamp down on migration, and faster repatriation of people whose asylum claims have been rejected. Neither seems likely to produce a different result from earlier attempts. For example, Spain tried to deal with large-scale migration from west Africa to the Canaries in 2006 with mass deportation and people promptly started to travel across Libya instead. Close down Libya, and more people come via Turkey to Greece. A significant, transnational criminal business has grown to meet demand. That is one scandal that can and must be addressed. Tackling Africa’s problems of governance and development is already a work in progress, but it will take time and is not guaranteed success. None of this is simple: indeed economic growth can be the very engine that allows some Africans to save the money they need for the trip to Europe. It makes sense for the EU to recalibrate some of its development aid to help those who will be repatriated to Africa to find decent jobs at home, rather than be pushed back into the kind of frustration that can fuel radicalisation or social unrest. A special EU fund has been set up seeking private as well as public money. But no one should pretend that this will be anything other than a long-term project. Many African governments turn a blind eye to the outflow of their disenchanted youth. It is a pressure-release valve, and remittances are worth $40bn a year to local economies. On the European side, the hope – over experience – is that sending migrants back will eventually deter them from setting off in the first place. This is the unspoken truth: preventing illegal immigration will never be possible unless legal migration channels are created. That is what African governments want, but it is just what Europe’s leaders, scared of the political consequences, do not want to deliver. Yet Europe needs immigrants, young and committed and eager to learn, future taxpayers who will support an ageing population. Immigrants themselves have a case rooted in justice and humane values that our politicians should have the courage to make. African migration is a different phenomenon from the Syrian exodus: it is driven by other factors and it is not going away. European political attitudes need to change: we must recognise that some policies demand EU-wide cooperation. And there are lessons – such as quotas and lotteries as channels for legal migration – to be learned from the US. It will not be easy, but it is unavoidable. |