The Rate of Immigration into the EU is Increasing

Below is a very sobering story from today’s ANSAmed about the projected rate of immigration into Europe from “the South” over the next decade.

There are several things to bear in mind when reading this:

1.		This forecast is based on information from EuroMed, i.e. the official arm of the European Commission charged with establishing what has become known as Eurabia. One can thus assume that the predictions have been massaged to the best of EuroMed’s abilities, and that the real situation must be even worse.
2.		The more educated immigrants are going overseas, to the USA, Australia, etc. The poor, ignorant, and less employable “southerners” are moving to Europe.
3.		The estimates posted yesterday at GalliaWatch (thanks LN): “Six out of ten persons from foreign countries of working age are idle. The deficit in public funds attributable to this population reaches 48 billion euros, or 80% of the total deficit recorded in 2004. Regarding their effect on the GNP, they represent 93 billion in added value and they consume 126 billion.”

And now the article from ANSAmed:

Migration Flows From The South To Double In 10 Years, Report

Brussels, January 25 — The immigration from southern Mediterranean countries is growing and in the next ten years it is destined to double: from Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Turkey, between 20 million and 30 million people will migrate, with the authorisation of their countries of origin which consider the exodus abroad an investment, as well as a way to reduce unemployment. This is the warning launched by the EuroMediterranean Centre for Research on Immigration, Carim, financed by the European Commission, which in its latest report focuses on the migratory movements of the southern Mediterranean coast. It is not easy to measure the flow of emigrants, because the data from the countries of origin and from the hosting countries are often very different. In general, the hosting countries do not take into account the temporary immigrants and the illegal ones, who are instead registered by their consulates abroad in order to have a minimum of protection. According to the data gathered in 2007 by the southern Mediterranean countries, there are between 12 and 15 million first generation emigrants coming from the Arab countries, equally divided between Europe and Gulf countries and Libya. Only 10% of the emigrants from Arab countries go up to Northern America and Australia and in general they are those who have at least a university degree, unlike those who move to Europe, who have in average a very low education level. This is due to the different migration policies on the two coasts of the Atlantic Ocean: America tries to attract qualified workers, while Europe tries to limit the flows.

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The country from where most people emigrate is Morocco, which in 2005 had more then 3 million Moroccan citizens registered at the Moroccan consulates abroad. Egypt, Algeria and Lebanon follow, all of them countries which registered a rapid increase in departures in the past ten years. According to the report, it is easy to forecast that the migratory phenomenon will increase in the next few years, considering that the demand for labour in the Gulf countries and Europe, which needs workers to keep the number of its active population at the same level, remains unchanged. Carim also explains that the attitude of the governments of the southern Mediterranean countries towards the migratory phenomenon has not changed during the years: it keeps being considered an investment, just like exports, to be encouraged for the benefit of the state budget. The emigrants’ remittances are in fact one of the main sources of income for many southern countries. But because, according to estimates, remittances are profitable only in the first years when the emigrants are settling down, in order to have a constant income it is needed to ensure an equally constant flow of emigrants. Because of this, countries like Morocco encourage the exodus, despite the fact that, as Carim explains, European governments have been progressively closing the doors to foreign workers. In the picture taken by Carim, Turkey, which has 3 million emigrants, does not fit in and, according to the estimates of the European study, is going to become a country for which emigration will be just a memory. (ANSAmed).

Hat tip: insubria.