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The EU has a fragmented strategy on the flow of migrants. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

It may seem strange that when the European economies are beginning to show signs of recovery, especially in Spain and France, the EU heads of state continue to treat the refugee crisis with a fortress Europe mindset. Political expediency seems to be stronger than other issues that need to be addressed to deal with the migration problem in a far more pragmatic way than the US and the EU itself have done so far.

In the last few years we have seen many EU member states viewing the large-scale migration from Africa and the Middle East as a threat to the sovereignty of their national and regional borders.

The result has been a fragmented strategy in dealing with the flow of migrants to the EU.

EU political leaders are facing an increasingly frustrated electorate that could see a further shift from traditional political parties. Some political are adopting tactics based on offering aid to African countries, especially Libya, in return for better policing of North African borders to prevent desperate migrant from Africa attempting to cross over to Europe.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of meaningful analysis by the media, if not also by politicians, on the different facets of the migration issue in Europe. No wonder ordinary people and maverick politicians of the right and the left are blaming migration to Europe for all that is not functioning in the Union.

Let us try to dismantle some misconceptions about this phenomenon. The migrants from Africa are not just refugees and asylum seekers escaping terror in their own countries.

The EU has every moral and political interest to help African countries grow their economies through trade

Many are economic migrants that want a better life for themselves and their children as most African economies continue to underperform for a number of reasons. They will do all it takes to improve their status even if it means risking their lives.

Thanks to modern communications, poor African people view Europe as a rich continent.

There is nothing new in this as history has thought us that the same phenomenon happened over a hundred years ago with migrants from an impoverished Europe sought better fortunes in the US, Australia, Canada and the UK.

However much bad news we hear from the EU economic front, Europe remains in the eyes of most African people a land of prosperity that could bring many advantages to those families who risk it all to enter the EU.

Many have already done so as the EUs demographic problems are beginning to show that without migration of skilled workers from Africa and other under-developed countries, some important economic and social functions in the EU would fail for lack of staff.

Poverty in African countries, brought about by civil strife, global warming, corrupt leadership, poor educational and health systems, and an inadequate infrastructure have made life for millions of African people unbearable.

But the long-term solution to this problem is not to build more barriers to prevent people from crossing over even if in the short-term the sheer scale of the migration crisis make it necessary to guarantee ordinary people in Europe security in their own countries.

While it is conceivable that most EU governments are more concerned about the immediate strain on welfare services, perceived competition over jobs, the strengthening of internal security, and the possible impact on social cohesion, the EU needs to move to the next stage to resolve this migration crisis.

While legal and illegal migration will persist, the long-term solution must be found in Africa itself. The EU has every economic, moral and political interest to help African countries grow their economies through trade.

To do this it needs to work with organisations like the IMF and the World Bank and with African countries to build a solid infrastructure that today is missing.

Immediate attention needs to be given to improving education standards in Africa with more importance given to vocational education, upgrading of the health system to ensure that en-demic illnesses like Aids are reduced to more manageable levels, assistance to fight corruption at all levels of African business, the strengthening of African financial and legal institutions, and investment in the physical infrastructure of roads and other means of communication.

It will take a whole generation to implement these changes in our relations with African countries. So, if EU leaders focus on the latest opinion polls, they will not commit to the benefits of engaging with African countries in the long term.

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Times of Malta Trade and the migration crisis - Times of Malta