EU pouring petrol on the migration flame & wondering why people risk lives to come to Europe

The imposition of the EU’s ‘Economic Partnership Agreements’ will cause chaos and instability throughout Africa forcing a further wave of migration, which has already led to a humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean.

These EU-wide trade agreements are pushing people from the land in Africa and forcing them to migrate to Europe via ports in Libya. So rather than trying to stop people crossing the Mediterranean, EU policy is compounding the problem.

These trade agreements have, in part, led to the migration that we now see building up in North Africa. A situation which will only get worse unless we urgently review the local economic impact of the Economic Partnership Agreements.

As currently structured these agreements benefit major multinational food corporations and if carried through will devastate African farmers, destroy their local markets and lead to long-term food insecurity, unemployment and conflict - the main drivers of migration from Africa.

We need to deal with the migration issue in a comprehensive way by ensuring debate, review and reform of the Economic Partnership Agreements on the floor of the Dáil and Seanad.

There is currently a review of trade policy at EU level, and there can be flexibility built into these agreements to make sure they don’t destroy markets in sensitive industries, particularly in agriculture and food.

Otherwise, we will undermine any plan to try to curb the mass migration that we are currently witnessing. Instead of solving the problem the EU is pouring petrol on the flames and then wondering why people want to risk their lives to come to Europe.

свернуть