One day we must ask the question: why is Europe, and particularly the EU, only interested in what is happening in the east of the continent and little in the south? It is, however, a reality: the center of gravity of the EU, since German reunification, has moved towards the east of the continent. Since the “Common Market” in Six where France reigned, Italy, Germany“Vatican Europe (1) » according to the formula in use, three events accentuated and transformed this march towards the east: the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification; the great enlargement of the EU in 2004 for the benefit of the former “Eastern countries”, followed by that of NATO; more recently, the pre-eminence of German leaders at the head of European institutions, the war in Ukraine then the appointment of Kaja Kallasformer Prime Minister of Estonia at the head of European diplomacy.
It is the succession and especially the conjunction of these elements which has accelerated the process of this sort of “march towards the east” of the EU. Political pressure from Northern countries (Denmark And Suede on the Greenland) like the Baltic countries and Central Europe for Ukraine irresistibly pushes the EU to invest politically in these issues and to commit its diplomatic and financial forces for the exclusive benefit of the east of the continent.
Our interest is also at stake in the South
But meanwhile, on our southern border, the Maghreb and Africa are developing, migratory flows know no borders and the EU is forgetting this. The reasons are numerous: the feeling that this continent is primarily the business of the former colonizers – France, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom ; the lack of knowledge of Africa by the countries of the North and finally the lack of interest other than commercial for the Maghreb and Africa. Here too, the conjunction of these elements diverts the attention of Europe and its leaders towards the east to the detriment of the south. However, the South, that is to say the Maghreb and Africa, is, just like Ukraine, the border of the European continent. Lampedusa is a few kilometers from the Libyan coast. Better, the EU has borders in Africa. The Canaries, Ceuta and Melilla are Europe and the Schengen area within reach of Africa.
There was indeed an attempt – on the initiative of France to Nicolas Sarkozy – of the UPM to force Europe to take an interest in its Mediterranean border: but the ambitious project came up against the crises of the 2010s: Arab Spring, war in Syria, Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since then, everything has happened as if the EU had given up interest in its southern border and abandoned it to the three countries concerned: France, Italy and Spain. However, these countries have different political orientations as well as ideological divergences: we see this when Pedro Sanchez regularizes 500,000 migrants, when Italy successfully controls migratory flows while France, in the name of its ” humanist tradition » wants to be generous with all asylum seekers and abandons any desire to control immigration.
It is perhaps not too late because Europe still has its say and cannot leave this continent in the (predatory) hands of the Russians, Chinese and Turks and only keep for itself repentance and ” the white man’s burden ”, as well as the cost of immigration. Spain, France, Italy, with Portugal, must overcome their differences, establish a road map for the EU and undoubtedly take the lead. The Commission must realize that its interests are also to the south, in the Mediterranean, in Africa. This probably involves a change of team within the Commission and the end of German domination over it.
(1) “Vatican Europe”: named after the founders of the Common Market, the Christian Democrats: Alcide De Gasperi, Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer.
