THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
Migration: myth and reality by Josep Borrell i Fontelles, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Madrid
S
ocieties are forged on the basis of major challenges. Europeans, including the Spanish, are today facing an unparalleled challenge. How we manage the phenomenon of migration will to a large extent determine the destiny of Europe, both in the future and the present. If we think about the European elections of May 2019, the truth is that it is not easy to debate with certain political representatives when their narrative on migration is not exactly defined by its intellectual rigour.
Playing with fears Such representatives have managed to establish in the collective imagination a reality that does not exist, and with not inconsiderable success: Orbán has been elected for the third time in Hungary, Zeman for the second time in the Czech Republic, Kaczyński in Poland, AfD in Germany, Salvini in Italy, the threat of Bannon with The Movement and a project for Europe which carries on from Brexit, and the success of Liga Norte in Italy, all attempting to form in this way a large anti-Europe coalition. Fortunately, this is not the case, at least for now, in countries such as Spain, where the issue of migration does not divide society, nor has it given rise to xenophobic political parties. These politicians deal in terms of perception, and not an accurate analysis of reality. They play with fears that are capable of concealing truths. On 13 April 2018, the European Commission published the results of the Special Eurobarometer 469 survey on the “Integration of immigrants in the European Union”. According to the results, only a minority (37%) of Europeans believe that they are well informed on issues related to immigration and inte-
22
photo: © UNHCR/Markel Redondo
Playing with fears can conceal truths
gration. The survey respondents also tend to overestimate the number of non-EU immigrants: in 19 of the 28 Member States, the estimated proportion of immigrants in the population is at least double the actual proportion, and in some countries the ratio is much higher. As George Orwell reminded us, our first duty in the face of threats to liberal democracies is to preserve the integrity of political language. Conversely, the first task that enemies of plural and open societies such as ours undertake is to pervert that same language. This has also happened with the issue of migration. But let us not confuse eye-catching headlines with reality. A misdiagnosis will lead us to an inappropriate response. The spikes in arrivals on Spanish, Greek and Italian coasts are not sporadic events, but form part of a recurrent and structural phenomenon.
Causes underlying migration It is a panorama of poverty (36 of the 41 countries from the group with the lowest level of human development are in Africa according to the UNDP’s Human Development Index), problems resulting from climate change (drought, which affects 22% of the population, floods, poor soil quality), lack of peace and security (the number of refugees on the continent, after having declined in 1995-2014, has doubled since 2015 and today there are 6 million African people who comprise 26% of refugees worldwide, and the majority of United Nations peacekeeping missions are in Africa) and unemployment, especially among youth and women. Naturally, the greatest of all the causes underlying migratory flows is the scarcity of economic opportunities to pursue a decent living in the countries of origin. Furthermore, as a result of being a developed economy with an ageing population, the EU has become a world destination for
