Europe is in a weak position conceptually and politically to demand a transparent give-and-take from African countries over the mass migration of their citizens, MEP Alfred Sant said.

He was addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg during the debate on the preparation of the Valletta Summit. The summit will address the challenges and opportunities of migration and recognises that migration is a shared responsibility of countries of origin, transit and destination.

Dr Sant said he found it difficult to be optimistic about the prospects of negotiations on Euro African cooperation regarding migrant movements and related socio-economic give-and-take.

“Since the heyday of neo-colonialism in Africa, things have not improved much. Through the International Monetary Fund and other bodies, the West imposed its neo-liberal model of development on most African countries.

"Privatisation, the removal of protectionism, and tailor-made forms of project tied aid supposedly liberalised economies but failed to trigger sufficient growth. They confirmed the pattern of extractive industries and agricultural commodity production where value added was produced by, among others, European and Chinese multinationals outside Africa.”

Dr Sant said that urbanisation accelerated, farm communities dwindled and became poorer, jobs failed to materialise in townships.

“In this neo-liberal context, unsurprisingly corruption and public mismanagement did not abate; they flourished. Strictly speaking, in a neo-liberal, globalised context, free movement of labour cannot be excised from a doctrine which preaches the virtues of free movement of goods and services worldwide. For hundreds of thousands of Africans, immigration has become their only hope”, Dr Sant said.