The curtain has fallen on the meeting of European Council from the other day a Grenada, it remains on record that immigration “It is a European challenge that requires a European response”, in the words of President Charles Michel.
Nice words, though Brussels, in its resolutions, did not go beyond the decision to maintain non-unanimity in voting on the agreements that concern immigration (and which led Orban to speak of "legal rape"), with the aim of maintaining at least "mandatory" the solidarity required of all member countries in distribution of migrants arriving at the Mediterranean borders (Italy, Greece, Spain).
Of course, there was also solidarity with the Italian government, invited to continue on the path undertaken in Tunisia, which basically means paying that country to stop migrants.
But then stop, end of discussion.
As if there were no other ways than to block the boats, push them back, sometimes helplessly witness the death of thousands of people. It is not so.
Germany will train thousands of Kenyans and employ them where there is a shortage of manpower
What if we did like Kenya? Or rather how he decided to do it Germany with Kenya. We are talking about the agreement signed between German President Scholtz and Kenyan President Ruto, then approved by parliament in Berlin last June, which aims to welcome 250.000 young people Africans from to form e use in the sectors most in crisis labor.
Which means completely overturning the logic underlying the issue of immigration: drive her, don't be overwhelmed by it.
For Italy it is better to pay African governments. The Rwanda case
We know that too'Italy has signed, over time, pacts with some African countries, most recently the tunisia, and whether the left or the right governed. But the spirit has always been different: pay those governments to prevent migrants from boarding and reaching our coasts. Never to use them.
In recent months the Italian government's suggestion has also been to follow theexample of the English that they planned to send to Rwanda, one of the smallest and poorest countries in Africa, immigrants arriving on their shores. The "Rwanda" program, first of Johnson and now of Sunak, plans to pay the Kigali government 120 million pounds (equal to 140 million euros) to welcome thousands of asylum seekers, waiting for any other country (except United Kingdom) you agree to host them.
To give an idea of what this means materially for migrants, the distance between the Tunisian coast (where they are leaving from at the moment) and Kigali (the capital of Rwanda) is more or less 8 thousand kilometres, almost 10 thousand from London. The country, a former German and then Belgian colony, independent from Belgium since 1962, is best known for the carnage between the two main ethnic groups, Tutsi and Hutu, in 1994, which at the time caused over a million deaths in 100 days, Tutsi mainly. President Paul Kagame has led the country for 23 years, elected each time with more than 90% of the vote. And it was he who launched the proposal to welcome migrants that no one wants into his home in exchange for money. The UN itself, through the refugee agency, UNHCR, has allocated 86 million dollars to Kigali to accommodate over 120 thousand people, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, in fenced structures, called transit centres, outside the capital. (60%) and from Burundi. Since 2019, another thousand have also arrived from Libya. But there are refugees arriving from Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali. Wherever there is a war or an African crisis.
The "respectable" world, the Westerners essentially, noticed the strange economy started in the African country when Denmark and the United Kingdom became interested in the model. Only then did we start talking about "deportations".
Now the program has been unanimously condemned by the international community, from the United Nations to the European Union, through hundreds of international, British and even African human rights groups and organizations. And the first London-Kigali flight was blocked by the European Court of Human Rights, opening up a dispute, among other things, given that Great Britain is outside the EU.
Therefore the "Rwanda" road is accompanied by the only policies that have so far been applied for the arrival of immigrants: that of rejection (when they arrive in Europe); that of prevention (when they try to leave); and incarceration (when the first two have failed). And let's go back to Germany.
Germany needs 400.000 skilled immigrants per year
With the highest number of asylum requests (24,7% of the European total), the Berlin government is applying a law that could/should suggest another way.
Like almost all economic systems of old Europe, even the German one lacks manpower qualified and young. L'national employment agency he also quantified this need: they serve approx 400 thousand immigrants qualified per year.
The sectors most lacking in manpower in Germany
And specifically the Germans discovered that 200 of the approximately 1200 professions examined can no longer be covered. Between sectors the most in deficit are public transport, hotel and restaurant services, and the mechanical carpentry sector. Not to mention the struggle Germans have to find workers for nursing, childcare, construction and automotive technology. And there is also a shortage of truck drivers, architects, pharmacists and information technology specialists. In short, one social and economic chasm which Sholtz's government has decided to tackle head-on, with great realism, because as was also recently recalled by Prof Giulio Sapelli, in an interview with Italia Oggi, "in the next twenty years half of the planet's demographic growth will be concentrated in Africa: in 2050 there will be three times as many Africans as Europeans. How do we strap ourselves in?”
What does the German-Kenyan project involve?
The text approved by German parliament, as has been reported in the press, he wants facilitate arrival of those workers needed by Germany, who will be able to enter the country through a points system as it already exists in Canada. It means that candidates can register in the system and earn points based on personal requirements, including age, education, work experience and language proficiency. The more points you acquire, the faster the entry. The Berlin-Nairobi pact naturally provides for helping candidates to reach the necessary level, above all through training schools, in Kenya as in Germany. And also regarding the English Language, a relationship between German and Kenyan vocational schools is envisaged: that is, African teachers will be trained to teach German, and the number of schools in which it can be learned will increase, both in Kenya and in Germany. For asylum seekers who arrived before March 29, and in possession of qualifications and a job offer, a exchange: residence permit as professionals they will retire there asylum application.
By doing so, Berlin hopes to employ, as anticipated, 250 young Kenyans. It certainly won't solve the country's large labor deficit, given that almost double that amount is needed, but the path is certainly clear.
What will the European moves be with the elections around the corner?
Returning to the Granada results: Is Europe with its institutions it proposed to follow the German example, instead of attempting an impossible undertaking, such as stopping the departures of those seeking a future, perhaps two problems could be solved at once. That of the aging of the workforce due to that of the population, common to the entire continent; and that of contributing to the growth of the African economy, now caught between its own dictators and the blackmail of not exactly disinterested "friends", such as China, Turkey or Russia. Precisely because immigration is "a European challenge that requires a European response", repeating Michel's words.
But with the elections on the horizon of the Strasbourg Parliament it is difficult for the German example to be taken into consideration. At least not now. Now it's better to shout about the invasion of the barbarians and promise to raise walls and barriers: it seems to get you more votes.
