We've got free flow of goods, and free flow of capital. (Both with some exceptions, whose origin are irrational decisions based on strong small lobbies.) Not so with people. We carefully choose at which time we need whom to enter our "developed" countries: Do we need Italian factory workers, German dentists, Eritrean asylum seekers, or the African poor?
"Economic migrants" from under-developed countries is certainly not what Europe wants. People more intelligent and better paid than me have written about the "fortress Europe". To people like me, it is visible on an Air France flight from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Paris, France.
When you arrive at one of the most chaotic airports in the world in the N'djili suburb of Kinshasa, a uniformed policeman controls something in your passport before he lets you enter the building. It could be:
- to check that you have a valid ticket to travel anywhere
- to check that you have paid the USD 50.- for the infamous Congolese "Go Pass" (airport tax)
- to check that you are not a researched criminal
The officer is normally friendly, but may ask you for a small contribution to his livelihoods, which I always turn down with a smile.
"Economic migrants" from under-developed countries is certainly not what Europe wants. People more intelligent and better paid than me have written about the "fortress Europe". To people like me, it is visible on an Air France flight from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Paris, France.
When you arrive at one of the most chaotic airports in the world in the N'djili suburb of Kinshasa, a uniformed policeman controls something in your passport before he lets you enter the building. It could be:
- to check that you have a valid ticket to travel anywhere
- to check that you have paid the USD 50.- for the infamous Congolese "Go Pass" (airport tax)
- to check that you are not a researched criminal
The officer is normally friendly, but may ask you for a small contribution to his livelihoods, which I always turn down with a smile.
