Tomorrow Europe is going to have a meeting to plan future strategies about migrations and, as a consequence, about European future attitude towards Africa.
This could have been an opportunity to reflect and find a plan to support Africa, for next months and years.
But it won’t be so.
Africa is like a poor and weak giant beached at Europe’s feet. But a giant who’s growing unbelievably: from 1.2 billion people to 2.3 billion in 2050 and to 4.3 billion at the end of the century. Demographic growth won’t’ be followed by an economic one, which could feed everybody. The more they grow, the worse they are.
Growth is so unstoppable and chaotic that no economic plan could compensate it. Today pro-capita income is 1,800 dollars a year; in 2050 it will be 3,000 dollars – that is 8 dollars a day per person). Therefore, in Africa there will be billions of poor people; almost 70%.
As everybody knows these figures – which you can easily find in my book –, we should expect that the actors meeting in Brussels will think about a middle-term strategy. Not a long-term one, but a middle-term one at least.
But what is going to happen instead?
Migrants, who today are a little avant-garde of the famous giant beached at our feet – and they are decreasing – are becoming the instrument for European countries to settle the score one with the other.
France is pretending to be open, but it is closing all entrances to its land; Sanchez’ Spain, being socialist, is now in favour of opening its borders, after years of closing the maroquin enclave; Germany, after that Mrs. Merkel opened the borders to welcome 1,000,000 Syrian people, is imploding in an everlasting fight between its leader and its Minister of Internal Affairs – CSU’s leader – who wants to block the secondary movement – we are talking about some thousands migrants whom Bavarian people don’t want to walk in the beautiful Monaco; Visograd group has built walls and don’t want even one single migrant.
And then our “bella Italia”, which with Salvini closes its harbours, bans NGOs, leaves hundreds of poor people at the mercy of the sea, just to show the power of “Italy First” philosophy, seals a deal with Libya to create some hot spots, but not in Libya – they don’t want to… it’s funny! – in Chad or Niger deserts instead – let me remind you that these two countries’ borders are 3,000 km long, along the desert… even Buzzati, in his “The Tartar Steppe”, would not have imagined this.
In other words, Europe doesn’t give a damn about Africa’s future.
During the meeting in Brussels, they will say: “It is their own business”.
And they are going to find a ridiculous deal to confirm that economic migrants have to go back home, that Europe will help using the Africa Fund, that the thousands of migrants in Bavaria will be sent to other countries, that they want to create centres in all Northern Africa – Red Sea is 9,000 km far from Atlantic Ocean… – and so on.
And then, all of them will come back to their white fellow countrymen, saying that they have won and they have knock all other European countries down. All competitors in this electoral game, played on Africa’s skin.
