Europe cannot ‘build a wall’ in Mediterranean to stop migration, says EU commissioner – The Irish Times

Europe cannot ‘build a wall’ in the Mediterranean Sea to stop migrants and should do more to help Africa prosper and tackle the ‘root cause’ of migration, says EU commissioner for international partnerships.

In an interview with the Irish Times, Jutta Urpilainen said Europe would be less secure in the future if the current focus on security policy was limited to increasing defense spending.

The Finnish politician said that too often discussions about migration do not address the reasons why people fled to Europe. Young people in Africa now have access to smartphones and the internet, something previous generations did not have, she said. “They also know what the world can offer them. So if they don’t have opportunities in their own country, in their own society, they can very easily look for an opportunity elsewhere.”

According to projections, Africa’s population could be three to six times that of Europe in the coming decades. The EU “cannot build a wall” in the Mediterranean Sea to stop the flow of future asylum seekers and migrants, she said.

“The only way to truly manage migration in a sustainable way is to address the root causes of migration and provide opportunities for young people.” Increased development assistance and investment are needed to improve areas such as education and health services, as well as transport and digital infrastructure in Africa, she said.

Urpilainen, a former deputy prime minister of Finland and former leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, said China and Russia have sought to exert more influence in Africa in recent years.

The EU is in “geopolitical competition” with other major powers on the continent. China has provided large loans to African countries for infrastructure projects, and many are now forced to repay them. “I have noticed that more and more of our African partners are realising how dependent they are on China, because of their level of debt,” she said.

“There are several African countries where the majority of their revenues are spent on debt servicing, and mainly to China,” she said. Russia has been “very active” in propaganda in Africa, Latin America and Asia, she added.

African countries want to be “partners” of the EU rather than “aid subjects”, she said. “Our objective is not to create new dependencies, on the contrary, we want to strengthen the resilience of Africa, we want to help it to be more autonomous and independent,” she added.

The EU’s approach has been to set aside public funds for aid, but also to guarantee loans that European companies have drawn on to invest in developing countries, she explained. “Our partners in Africa want private investments because they want to stimulate their economy, they want to have growth, they want to have more jobs for their young people,” Urpilainen said.

“In Europe, we’re talking a lot about security right now. I think there’s a very broad consensus that we need to invest more in our defense capabilities… It’s completely understandable because there’s a war going on (in Ukraine),” she said. “I think it’s important to remember that we’re facing different kinds of threats to our security when it comes to climate change, which is perhaps the biggest threat to our existential security.”

If increased defense spending were the only priority, at the expense of things like development aid, Europe could end up with more military hardware but be weaker and more geopolitically isolated, she added.