However, there are some simple projects that could be implemented to prevent these masses of destitute people from reaching the Italian coast: naturally, these projects, although conceived in the 19th century by the builder of the Suez Canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps, have not been implemented. It would not be difficult to put 60,000 Tunisians to work digging a canal connecting the Mediterranean to the Chott el Djerid depression, thus creating jobs and a new ecosystem (livestock farming, agriculture, et cetera).
This brings us to the second point, Europe’s indiscriminately pro-migration narrative. After the so-called “migration crisis” of 2015, scientific attempts to clarify the phenomenon intensified. I would like to mention here the noteworthy essays dedicated to the phenomenon published by the Migration Research Institute in Budapest with regard to Tunisia and Morocco, particularly this one in Hungarian about trends in illegal migration between Morocco and Algeria.
Marco Giaconi wrote that “transnational crime, which has its axis in the management of illegal immigration, tends to geo-economically colonise the weak areas of the EU and make them homogeneous to the economic, political, and strategic needs of the countries of origin of criminal organisations.”
While the Mediterranean mercantile mentality of Italians tends to better incorporate new arrivals than, say, countries governed by pseudo-Protestant or atheistic rigor such as Sweden (which in fact suffers severely from poorly managed and even worse-controlled immigration), Italy is suffering from the breakdown of what was once the family. This process was certainly not caused by migration, but it was facilitated by the phenomenon, which has always been poorly managed, especially in the post-Gaddafi era. Libya and Tunisia were thus transformed not just into an “open barrier” but into a “blackmailing sieve.”
The third and final point deserves a separate analysis, which I promise to provide: uncontrolled, unregulated immigration is destroying the European economy. This is not a matter of distinguishing between those arriving from the south and those who come from Ukraine. The phenomenon is the same, despite its origins being different, with the variable that in Ukraine, we are also dealing with a conflict that cannot be resolved at Europe’s convenience – and is therefore a failed investment. In the meantime, let’s say that prevention is better than cure.
So for Ukraine, “put it to sleep and cut it off”, whilst for the Maghreb, Italy should open schools where aspiring migrants can learn a trade that is needed both in Africa and Europe (e.g., repairing air conditioners) and, once trained, transport them to limited contingents in Europe, giving them exclusivity, and send back to Africa those who have not regularised their status in Italy within three months.
The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004. It is named after Lake Valdai, which is located close to Veliky Novgorod, where the Club’s first meeting took place.
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