Santander – ESI at discussion on the EU and Africa at “Quo Vadis, Europe?”

ESI’s Gerald Knaus was invited to participate in the panel discussion “The EU from the African perspective” at Quo Vadis, Europa? 2023, which took place at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP).    

Gerald focused his presentation on the EU’s fear-based approach to immigration saying that “erroneous figures are thrown around about emigration that end up having an impact on reality”.

He gave the example of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban who in his election campaign in 2018 stated that “30 million immigrants will arrive from Africa to Hungary between now and 2020”, a figure that Gerald refuted with another: “it would take 150 years for these numbers to be true. But this message is repeated and generates fear. And Orban looked at the really important figures for him. The scandal is not the number of immigrants, what is really important is the number of deaths”. Gerald agreed with the Senegalese foreign minister that the solution to this problem is legal “mobility”.  

Photo: European External Action Service (EEAS)

Gerald debated with Aissaita Tall Sall, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Senegal and José Segura, Director General of Casa África.

• ESI proposal: Safe third countries
• ESI proposal: Humane Borders
• UIMP, Aïssata Tall Sall, ministra de Asuntos Exteriores de Senegal: “Si la UE sigue bloqueando los visados, el mar seguirá siendo una tumba para los africanos” (Aïssata Tall Sall, Senegal's foreign minister: "If the EU continues to block visas, the sea will remain a tomb for Africans".) 24 August 2023