EU leaders have echoed circulating concerns the ongoing global food crisis could lead to the next European migrant crisis.
The ongoing global food crisis which has been borne out of the ongoing war in Ukraine as well as other difficulties to do with global trade could lead to the next European migrant crisis, a number of EU interior ministers have warned.
Their prediction echoes those made by the head of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, who has previously warned European leaders that they face a “Hell on Earth” migrant crisis should they not act to alleviate shortages on the Southern continent.
According to a report by Euronews, ministers from EU nations which frequently take the brunt of such crises have now seemingly heeded such warnings, repeating the claim that food problems in the global south could cause a spike in illegal African migration.
The officials have now called upon the entirety of the European Union to take action on the matter.
“We cannot let smugglers decide who comes to live in Europe,” Greek Interior Minister Notis Mitarachi is reported as saying after the talks in Venice which were also attended by officials from Italy, Cyprus, Malta and Spain.
Meanwhile, Mitarachi’s Italian counterpart, Luciana Lamorgese, emphasised that more repatriation agreements needed to be drawn up between Europe and African states.
Italy already has such an arrangement in place with Tunisia, allowing the EU state to deport sizable numbers of migrants from the African nation more easily.
While EU nations which frequently see the worst of migrant crises beg for bloc-wide action to help deal with a likely forthcoming migrant crisis from Africa, those at the top of the bloc have been preoccupied with trying to convince African political leaders that the West is not at fault for the shortages in the first place.
Politicians such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have been insistent that the ongoing food shortages worldwide are solely the fault of Russia, with Vladimir Putin’s nation being the reason why Ukraine is unable to export the agricultural produce much of the world is reliant on. Russia, typically, has acted outraged at the suggestion their invading Ukraine has caused a food crisis.
However, many in Africa do not seem to buy this narrative, with the chairman of the African Union, Macky Sall, telling EU bigwigs that the narrative that the West is the cause of food difficulties “is out there”, with many on the continent finding the ongoing crisis “very serious and alarming”.
What’s more, Sall followed up this seemingly icy meeting with EU lawmakers was followed with a meeting with President Putin himself, whom the African leader said appeared willing to work to solve the problem of food shortages.
“President Putin expressed to us his readiness to facilitate the export of Ukrainian cereals,” Sall wrote on social media.
“Russia is ready to ensure the export of its wheat and fertilizer,” the AU official continued. “I call on all partners to lift sanctions on wheat and fertilizer.”