Economist and Schiller Institute friend Michele Geraci was among the guests on a CGTN talk on Aug. 8, dedicated to the migrant crisis in Ceuta, Spain. Geraci, after defending the state of law on immigration issues, clearly said that the only solution lies in the development of African countries.
“Protecting borders from illegal crossing is not rightwing or leftwing. The law does not have a political color, unless someone thinks that a leftwing party should not apply the law,” he said. However, countries with maritime borders, such as Italy and Greece, have a problem.
“We cannot, of course, throw people back into the sea, because we have to rescue them. This is the first duty: saving lives. The problem comes: what do we do with the migrants once we have saved them and brought them to the Italian mainland, or the Spanish mainland? Do we send them back there, where they come from? This is very difficult. So, we have a failure of European countries in protecting their own borders.
“Allow me to say that the demography of Africa only, without going into the transit that Africa offers to Asian migrants, is that the African population will double [in] the next decade, and what do we do with two billion people in Africa who, of course, look at Europe like a dreamland, where they get better jobs, better life? How do we solve this problem?
“One way to do it—because I am, you know, one of the fathers of the Belt and Road in Italy—is to offer development of society and the economy in Africa; not just to welcome them, we have to offer a development model in Africa that prevents young people in Africa from coming to Europe.”
