The Head of the Labour Delegation at the European Parliament Dr Alfred Sand said that conceptually and politically Europe is in a weak position to demand a transparent give-and-take from African countries over the mass emigration of their citizens.

Dr Sant addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg during the debate on the preparation of the Valletta Summit of 11th and 12th of November. The summit will address the challenges and opportunities of migration and recognises that migration is a shared responsibility of countries of origin, transit and destination.

The MEP said that he finds it difficult to be optimistic about the prospects of negotiations on Euro African cooperation regarding migrant movements and related socio-economic give-and-take.

“Since the heyday of neo-colonialism in Africa, things have not improved much. Through the International Monetary Fund and other bodies, the West imposed its neo-liberal model of development on most African countries.”

Sant added, “privatisation, the removal of protectionism, and tailor-made forms of project tied aid supposedly liberalised economies but failed to trigger sufficient growth. They confirmed the pattern of extractive industries and agricultural commodity production where value added was produced by, among others, European and Chinese multinationals outside Africa.”

Dr Sant said that urbanisation accelerated, farm communities dwindled and became poorer, jobs failed to materialise in townships.

“In this neo-liberal context, unsurprisingly corruption and public mismanagement did not abate; they flourished. Strictly speaking, in a neo-liberal, globalised context, free movement of labour cannot be excised from a doctrine which preaches the virtues of free movement of goods and services worldwide.”

“For hundreds of thousands of Africans, immigration has become their only hope,” reiterated Dr Sant.

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