They need them but do they really want them? Last week, Fatemah Farag investigated the vexed issue of Egyptian migratory labour "Europe," mused Attia, a vocational institute graduate in his mid 20s. "That would be wonderful: clean streets, euros and blond women." It was mid-day and he was sitting in a coffee shop in Boulaq, a working-class district of Cairo. Attia has nowhere else to go and plenty of time on his hands. "Since my graduation I have only been able to find temporary work -- at very low salaries. My family holds me responsible for earning my keep and helping out but it is really difficult. I come here for news of the odd job." With unemployment unabated -- a commonly accepted estimate puts the figure at 20 per cent of -- young people like Attia are often driven to literally migrate to Europe in search of a living, especially now that there are far fewer work opportunities in the Gulf. Spain and Italy are the easiest entry spots for illegal immigrants, particularly the islands off the African coast -- Spain's Canary Islands and Italy's Lampedusa -- which attract thousands of immigrants from all over Africa. In fact, according to recent official reports, this year alone Italy has been subject to a 50 per cent rise in the number of African immigrants crossing into its shores by boat. In Spain, lifeboats have rescued 5,700 immigrants at sea this year, and police arrested more than 400 people for aiding illegal immigration in the first six months of this year alone. The consequences for those who take the risk are often dire. Only last August two Egyptians died while being repatriated from Libya after attempting to cross into Italy. According to Amnesty International, the Italian authorities returned numerous immigrants, including potential refugees who had landed by sea on the island of Lampedusa last March. Amnesty noted that "European asylum and immigration policies that have been implemented in the past five years, and the proposals for the externalisation of the border controls suggested by the Hague programme of November 2004 are the main sources of... [d]riving back and locking up migrants and exiled people..." But with economic pressures mounting south of the Mediterranean, people like Attia will tend to give in to desperation. "What are the options, really?" he asked. One answer was being given on the opposite side of town as we spoke, only last week. For Italian Minister of Labour and Social Policies Roberto Maroni was signing the first agreement of its kind with his Egyptian counterpart Minister of Labour Ahmed El-Amawy, aimed at "strengthen[ing] the existing bilateral cooperation [towards] promoting an efficient management of migratory flows and preventing illegal migration". According to the Implementation Protocole, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Ahram Weekly, "In order to facilitate matching labour demand and supply of workers available to work in Italy, the Parties will encourage candidate Egyptian migrant workers to attend vocational training and Italian language courses, organised by Italian institutions and organisations on Egyptian territory... Egyptian citizens who have attended the aforementioned courses will be included in a specific list and will acquire a preferential title to enter Italy for work reasons... And in this regard, the Ministry of Manpower and Emigration of the Arab Republic of Egypt shall make all necessary arrangements and procedures to facilitate the selection of workers according to the employment offers, thus ensuring an accurate match of demand to supply." In his presentation earlier that day, Minister Maroni said, "Agreements [such as this] are important to legitimise the work of migrants and it is our policy to seek mutual tools in doing so." Italian Ambassador to Egypt Antonio Badini later explained to the Weekly that it is crucial that the supply of labour from Egypt should match the demand for jobs in Italy: 'The first thing to do is to identify sectors which require manpower in Italy then to help and cooperate with the ministries of manpower and industry here to upgrade the necessary professions required." He was emphatic about the positive side of the new equation: "We are committed to continued investment towards the support and absorption of Egyptian labour. When the European Union expanded we were flooded by manpower from Eastern Europe. We want to redress the balance in favour of the south of the Mediterranean. And the signing of this agreement signifies the willingness we have to do so." Ambassador Badini indicated that even Italian investment in Egypt -- the privatisation of Suez Cement, for example -- reflects this attitude. "Instead of laying-off workers we took into consideration the social dimension and worked towards upgrading their skills to make labour transferable." The quota specified by the Italian government in 2005 for Egyptian labour was in the range of 2000 jobs. And while the number might not seem high, according to Badini the quota has yet to be filled. "Certainly," he insisted, "the number will be higher next year." Noteworthy is the fact that in December 2004, the Italian Council of Ministers fixed the maximum number of third-country migrant workers to be allowed into Italy in 2005. "The figure, which is provisional pending the drawing up of Italy's immigration policy document for 2004- 2006, is 79,500 migrant workers, based on the country's need for immigrant labour according to information provided by local bodies, the Employment and Social Affairs Ministry and employers' associations," explained a government document. Last year, Italy passed legislation regularising the legal status of all immigrant labour. And the agreement singed in Cairo last week only covers those who will travel henceforth to Italy. "We want to discourage illegal immigration in the future," stresses Badini, adding that candidates should be willing to undergo training in specific fields and in the Italian language. The point almost never made in this context is that Europe needs immigrant labour. According to EU reports, the population of Europe's retirees is growing at an annual rate of 0.5 per cent, and the rate of Europeans in the 56-60 age bracket who are still working has dropped below 50 per cent, while birth rates are also on the decline. In 2002, the birth deficit was 2.3 million with an annual birth rate of negative 0.7 per cent. "Even if current official immigration rates keep steady, Europe's population will fall by 10 per cent, or at the least by 25 million by 2050," according to EU statements. Indeed Joaquin Almunia, the EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner, indicates that the impact of an aging population on economic growth in the EU's original 15 members, estimated to reach 2.3 per cent a year by 2010, will plummet to 1.8 per cent in the period 2011-30 and to 1.3 per cent between 2031 and 2050 if labour productivity does not grow any faster than the estimated rate of 1.7 per cent. In the 10 new members growth will drop from 4.3 to 0.9 per cent over the same period. These findings are supported by a United Nations (UN) report released this year, which found that, because of a bulge in the aged population and declining birthrates, the European Union (EU) will require an influx of 35 million new adults to offset labour shortages by 2025. "[R]ecognising the impact of demographic decline and ageing on the economy," EU statements point out, "the Commission highlighted the need to review immigration policies for the longer term particularly in the light of the implications which an economic migration strategy would have on competitiveness. Between 2010 and 2030, at current immigration flows, the decline in the EU-25's working age population will entail a fall in the number of employed people of some 20 million. "[Hence] more sustained immigration flows will increasingly be required to meet the needs of the EU labour market and ensure Europe's prosperity... The EU must also take account of the fact that the main world regions are already competing to attract migrants to meet the needs of their economies." In response to these challenges, the Thessaloniki European Council of July 2003 stressed "the need to explore legal means for third- country nationals to migrate to the Union, taking into account the reception capacities of the Member States [...]". And the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, concluded during the Brussels European Council of June 2004, stated: "The Union shall develop a common immigration policy aimed at ensuring, at all stages, the efficient management of migration flows." Meanwhile, the first scientific survey of Europeans' attitudes towards immigration was completed by the Vienna-based European Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), an EU human rights watchdog. Conducted between 1997 and 2003, and involving 25,000 people living in the EU's 25 member states, the study shows a growing resistance among Europeans to integrating immigrants. Although the majority of EU citizens are happy to live in a multiethnic society, nearly half of the population is opposed to granting legal immigrants full civil rights. One in five would rather have no immigrants at all. And 52 per cent of respondents across Europe see "a collective ethnic threat from immigration", believing that immigrants threaten to occupy too many jobs and undermine the country's culture, increase crime rates and altogether lower quality of life. In this vein it is noteworthy that last month the French government modified certain aspects of its immigration policy following riots in the poor suburbs of Paris -- even though most of the rioters were born in France. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced plans to restrict the re-unification of immigrant families and to impose tighter selection rules on foreign students from outside the EU. The French government will also make it more difficult to win the right to come to France, or become French, by marrying a French citizen. Marriages between French men and women and non-EU foreigners have more than doubled to 34,000 a year in the last decade, and are now the biggest single source of immigration to France. Indeed EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini was quoted in the press last month as saying, "In the spring of 2006 we will be in a position to think about a Mediterranean guard, a force in which different European countries will participate with their ships and technology and police officers and border officials." Balancing the demand for labour on the one hand, and political and societal tensions on the other, is the policy of controlled -- albeit limited -- legal migration. Another link in this chain was forged at the end of November at a meeting of leaders representing 25 EU nations and their counterparts from nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea (Turkey, Israel, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), which took place in Barcelona, Spain, and focussed on co-operation in combating the spread of terrorism and controlling illegal immigration. At the meetings, the EU's Javier Solana told reporters, "If wealth does not flow from the north to the south, people will flow from the south to the north. We have to choose what we prefer." Acquiescing the grave consequences of income inequality between North and South, the EU agreed with its southern neighbours on the need to stem the growing tide of illegal immigrants: "The Euro-Mediterranean partnership will enhance cooperation... significantly reducing the level of illegal migration, trafficking in human beings and loss of life through hazardous sea and border crossings." Also this November, Frattini announced that the commission aims to take "practical steps" to address the root causes of immigration -- poverty, unemployment, and human rights abuses. This translates in the fact that North African countries will receive money, equipment, and training to help them better manage the movement of immigrants and refugees. But it remains as unclear as ever how many legal immigrants the EU is prepared to admit and according to what criteria they will be selected. "Migration is one of the main issues of this century. In the past 50 years the world population has risen from 2.5 billion to today's 6.1 billion, 85.6 per cent of whom live in the developing countries. Conversely, the world's wealth has become concentrated in the developed world. 150 million people in the world can be defined as immigrants. Of these, about 20 million live in the European Union. And this number is bound to increase as the world's population rises, and the economic gap widens: it is no wonder that there is such pressure to enter Europe." (source) Andrea Bertozzi, Italy's Recent Change From An Emigration Country to An Immigration Country and Its Impact on Italy's Refugee and Migration Policy, lecture given at the European Migration and Refugee Policy Seminar in November 2002
