President of Ecuador
Criticizes European Migration Policies
MADRID - The President of Ecuador, Rafael
Correa, regarded here as terrible the
migration policies applied by the 27 member
countries of the European Union (EU) with
the Latin American emigrants in his
Wednesday intervention at the EU-Latin
American and Caribbean Summit.
"I find it a historical ingratitude," Correa
expressed, and wondered what effect it had
caused in Europe if Latin America had used
the same policies when this part of the
world received the great migratory wave
during the Spanish Civil War.
"I don't know how the EU will explain the
future generations, at least from an ethical
point of view, that while it was enabling a
global world and a bigger flow of capitals
and goods, criminalized the most principal
of the movements, the human one, underlined
the Ecuadorian leader.
He said that the policies of the Old
Continent penalize the immigration more and
more, something he evaluated like a
monstrous inconsistency.
The Ecuadorian stateman admitted that the
Latin American governments are very
concerned for the effects that the serious
economic crisis in Europe will have on
hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived
in these lands in the last years, many of
them from Ecuador.
"The repercussions on the migrants are very
big," said Correa, after evaluating that
Latin America has known how to confront the
world financial crisis with many smaller
negative effects than Europe.
"For that reason it doesn't exist any danger
that this economic debacle deepens the
migratory current toward the Old Continent,"
he said.
He insisted in particular in the situation
of the migrants of his country living this
side of the Atlantic, for the Ecuadorian
community in Spain, where the unemployment
rate is very high.
"If you don't have a labor contract you
cannot renovate the residence permission,"
he added and pointed out that the
unemployment index in the immigrants is
located near 30 percent.
He informed that these concerns were
expressed by the Latin American leaders as
much in the 6th Summit on the eve, as in the
meeting Thursday between the EU community
block and the Andean Community.
On the political situation in Latin America,
Correa totally declared himself against the
recognition of the new authorities of
Honduras, although they are fruit of some
elections.
"It would be a disastrous precedent to allow
a shameless coup d'etat, calls for elections
later and nothing happens, the Union of
South American Nations won't allow such a
thing, he concluded. |
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