Fearing the long-term effects on the European Union, 40-year-old French President Emanuel Macron, speaking in Lagos, Nigeria, urged African countries to solve the current immigration crisis. Stretching the EU to the breaking point, the EU has already witnessed the United Kingdom voting June 24, 2016 to leave the $15 trillion economic block. Exist polls of the Brexit vote indicate that British voters were concerned about the EU imposing immigration quotas on the U.K. British voters said overwhelmingly they weren’t going to allow the EU to wreck Great Britain, voting instead to get out of the EU. Several EU countries, including, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Austria, have put the EU on notice that they would not accept immigration from Muslim countries, believing its Christian values did not see compatibility with strict Islamic law.
British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] routinely slams 72-year-old President Donald Trump’s get-tough-on-the-border immigration policy, ripping Trump’s polices as inhumane and cruel Yet those same critiques the U.S. under Trump apparently apply to British voters deciding to bail out of the EU, especially because of the EU’s liberal immigration polices. BBC’s nightly news often highlights overcrowded inflatables capsizing crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to parts of Italy. Italy was so disgusted with the EU immigration quota system a voter backlash voted in March 6 the anti-immigration, anti-EU 5-Star Party led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Italy’s usually socialist population morphed into populist support for the anti-EU 5-Star party largely due to EU immigration policies. If the EU doesn’t change its ways, the entire economic block could collapse.
Taking in over 1 million Syrian refugees in 2016, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to change her policy under threat of losing Christian Social Union [CSU] Bavarian chief Horst Seehofer. Seehofer, who accepted the Interior Minister post under Merkel March 14 threatened to walk out and break off the CSU from Merkel’s governing coalition unless Merkel changed her tune on immigration. Forced to back down June 24, Merkel’s agreed to limits on Mideast immigration into Germany, both asylum requests and migrant workers. Now Macron makes his pitch to Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari. “We have to work with African governments,” said Macron, admitting the current immigration crisis from the continent isn’t sustainable. “For me, the sustainable answer is not just security,” said Macron urging economic development to sustain Africa’s need for work.
Viewed as an anti-Trump politician, Macron sees the same immigration problems plaguing the EU as the U.S. faces on the Mexican border. With the U.S economy humming along and the unemployment rate at record lows, the U.S. has plenty of employment for illegal border crossers. Europe’s got less work to spread around because the unionized nature of EU employment, requiring all EU countries to provide similar wages and benefits across the Schengen landscape. “These people, given the magnitude of the wave, cannot be accepted at least, not all of them,” said Macron, throwing cold water on the idea that the EU can absorb the current immigration wave. “We need more Africans to succeed in Africa,” Macron told his Lagos audience that the African continent must do more to bring industry to sustain employment for rank-and-file Africans.
Macron could not have been more critical of Trump dealing with the U.S. immigration crisis on the Mexican border. Trump’s facing, like the EU, a tidal wave of illegal immigration. Unlike Trump, Macron goes directly to Lagos to lecture Africans to take care of their own populations because the EU can’t accept unlimited numbers of African immigrants. After Merkel got a compromise from Brussels on immigration last week to save her governing coalition, Merkel’s been put on notice by European Council President Donald Tusk that the EU immigration policy has changed. Immigration quotas in Germany have changed since resolving differences with Seehofer. Merkel no longer wants to alienate other EU countries that oppose Mideast and African immigration. Macron urged Nigerians to deal with deadly waves of Islamic terrorism, especially al-Qaeda affiliate Boko Haram.
Macron set the record straight in Lagos that Africans need to manage the flow of immigrants better by providing more employment opportunities on the continent. Seeking immigration to EU countries, like Italy and Greece, with higher unemployment rates, is not sustainable, causing serious social disruption. Macron tried to address the EU’s concerns but knows that there’s little Africa can do now to change the economic picture on the continent. Inaugurating the Alliance Francais cultural center in Lagos does nothing to address African immigration patterns now threatening the EU. Macron wants to spread French influence in Nigeria and other parts of Africa but wants Africans to stay on their own continent. Macron has been put on notice that unfettered African immigration could break up the EU. What happened in the U.K with Brexit could happen in several other countries.
