EU Foreign Affairs Chief Federica Mogherini told member states Monday they had ‘no more excuses’ not to act on the Mediterranean migrant crisis as reports came through of another boat sinking with 300 people on board. More than 700 people were feared dead after a fishing boat crammed with migrants seeking a better life in Europe capsized off Libya on Sunday, with some survivors suggesting nearly 1,000 could have been on board. ‘We need immediate action from the EU and the member states,’ she added.
Italian and Maltese navy boats continued to scour waters off Libya for the victims of Sunday’s disaster – the latest in a string of shipwrecks, which have claimed well over 1,000 lives since the start of 2015.
But the outlook appeared grim, with only 28 survivors rescued so far, along with 24 bodies.
Italian prosecutors said a Bangladeshi survivor flown to Sicily for treatment told them 950 people were aboard, including hundreds who had been locked in the hold by smugglers. Earlier, authorities said a survivor told them 700 migrants were on board, reports AP.
Unfortunately immediate action from the member states should not consist of meaningless dialogue – the migrants, who are mostly economic, go illegally to Europe to find jobs so that they can feed families. There are many ways Europe can stop this – one way would be to encourage temporary migration like the Gastarbeiter programme used by nations like Germany, Norway, Belgium and other nations to allow workers to temporarily reside and work in Europe. These workers mostly stayed back in the European nations as few good jobs were available in their home states.
The main reason why the EU refuses to use such programmes now is because the majority of illegal immigrants are Muslim and African or Asian and thus have no cultural or religious similarities with the majority of European states which are mostly white and Christian. Most EU leaders are worried about unemployment and xenophobia in their own countries and this prevents them from finding a permanent solution to the problem – if any such solution exists.
Another way would be for EU nations to set up a fund to direct FDI inflows into the nations from which it gets the most illegal workers, or give tax holidays to European firms which are willing to invest and create employment in those areas. Ultimately if the EU wants to put its money where its mouth is, it will require a tremendous amount of finance and political will to get it done.
