Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, has raised concerns about the potential impact of migration on the unity of the EU. He noted that while nationalism has been on the rise in Europe, it is the issue of migration, rather than Euroscepticism, that poses a significant challenge to the European project.
“Migration is a bigger divide for the European Union. And it could be a dissolving force for the European Union,” Borell said. Despite establishing a shared common external border, “we have not been able until now to agree on a common migration policy”, he said.
He attributed this to deep cultural and political differences inside the EU: “There are some members of the European Union that are Japanese-style; we don’t want to mix. We don’t want migrants. We don’t want to accept people from outside. We want our purity.”
He said other countries, such as Spain, have a long history of accepting migrants. The paradox is that Europe needs migrants because it has such low demographic growth. If Europe wants to survive from a labor point of view, it needs migrants.
Borrell insisted that the war in Ukraine was not fueling the current rows over migration: “We are living in a circle of instability from Gibraltar to the Caucasus, and this happened before the Ukrainian war and will continue after the Ukrainian war. Migration in Africa is not being caused by the war against Ukraine. The root causes of migration in Africa are lack of development, economic growth, and bad governance.”
The issue of migration has indeed been a contentious one within the EU, with member states having differing approaches and policies. The EU has faced challenges in managing migration flows, particularly during periods of increased arrivals, and has sought to address issues related to border security, asylum, and refugee resettlement.
