The Libyan Project
TRIPOLIS/TUNIS/BERLIN (german-foreign-policy.com) - The Libyan coast guard will have an EU commando (with German participation) assigned to it and is expected to intercept African migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. This was confirmed by the office of the Director of the EU Delegation in North Africa, in response to an inquiry by German-Foreign-Policy.com. The action plan conceived by the German Interior Minister, Otto Schily, has been in effect since the beginning of June and is preparing the deployment of a highly armed "Task Force". The "Task Force" is made up of fast patrol boats, aircraft and hi-tech equipment, mostly of German fabrication. Simultaneously transit camps, for screening migrants as to their suitability as workers in the legally registered labor force, will be established on the Libyan coastline. "Europe" desperately needs "more migration" declared Franco Frattini, European Commission Vice-President for Justice, Freedom and Security, Monday in Dublin. Amnesty International protested the German inspired border policy on the northern coast of Africa. Libya does not have a "functioning system of asylum" and is known for its "catastrophic prison conditions," Amnesty says in its statement.
Following a session with his counterparts from the 25 EU member states, the German interior minister seemed relieved that that the Libya plan, he has been pursuing for years, has "now become concrete policy." 1)Schily admitted to considerable costs, in order to install the migrant interception and camp systems in the coming months. In order to put through the German North Africa Policy, which is admittedly based upon the experience made in the earlier colonial period, Schily entered a coalition with the Italian government. Migrants, who are putting their lives on the line, seeking to share in the industrial riches of the EU, are regularly landing in Italy. A portion of these economic refugees could remain in Africa, also there, "under widely varying conditions" one can lead "a good and happy life" judges Schily, a confessed anthroposophist.
Fill Up
Not all of those migrants stranded in the camps are destined to be held prisoner and through certain - as yet unknown - circumstances be deported back to Sub-Saharan Africa or to Arab countries. According to studies of the EU Commissioner for "Justice, Freedom and Security" there is a much more desperate need to have people, who will "fill up the labor market" and will "offset the rising costs of our welfare system." 2)This objective can be better reached through the "effective channeling of the flow of the legal migration" and "combating" the illegal, explains Frattini. With this statement the commissioner seconded the pronouncement made by his designated predecessor (who withdrew his candidacy), who raised the question of recruiting African labor for the benefit of industrial and agricultural enterprises. According to this scheme, a contingent of cheap migrants will be kept available in Libya, who, when needed, can be transported over the Mediterranean and after sufficient exploitation, be sent back again.
Multi-National
As Frattini now explains, rendering the economic refugees illegal on the outer borders of the EU is the absolute prerequisite for the legal transfer of labor power between the European nucleus states. It must be guaranteed that "a multi-national enterprise" can have useful migrants transferred from Athens to Rotterdam without encountering border impediments. 3)The domestic labor transfer will be that much less problematic to organize, the more strict regulations are imposed on the foreign, in such a manner that only those migrants come to Europe, that satisfy the industrial demands - the Libyan Project.
Tight
In order to facilitate the monitored supply of unskilled labor and to avoid that their productive potential is hampered by speech barriers, Fratini proposes simple language courses, paid for by the EU that would be given "in the countries of origin". Therefore migrants selected in Libya can learn a few words in German, French or Spanish - depending on to which country they are destined - in order to be able to understand work instructions and to have something to do in the camp until they are dispatched. Knowledge surpassing what is needed for the daily work is not necessary, because the migrants will literally be confined to a barracks situation. Work and residence permits must be "tightly" coupled, to allow that "the enterprises will have optimal disposal" of the "human resources," explained Frattini. 4)
Specialized
The Libyan Project is noticeably patterned after previous models and reminds of examples of concentrated camps, as had been typically used for profit maximizing processes within colonial and industrialization policy. This is the organized method of bringing together large masses of people, who with minimal costs of reproduction perform different tasks of work. The key to success for large-scale projects such as this, depend upon a reservoir of labor force at the constant disposal, if necessary they can again be set free or be totally used up (death). The regularly necessary police and military surveillance will be undertaken in Libya by the newly created "Border Control Agency." Units of the German federal border police are participating in the EU agency that has been functioning since May. German "Albatros" fast patrol boats are patrolling the North African coastline, German military vehicles are in action inside the country. Large German enterprises, specializing in handling refugees, will also be beneficiaries of some of the "considerable costs" for building the new North African camp system, that Schily announced. The costs in Libya alone have been estimated at over 900 million Euros.
1) Zusammenarbeit mit Libyen gegen Einwanderung wird konkret; Neue Zürcher Zeitung 03.06.2005
2) Franco Frattini: The Green Paper on an EU approach to Managing Economic Migration, 20.06.2005
3) Franco Frattini: The Green Paper on an EU approach to Managing Economic Migration, 20.06.2005
4) "In this sense, work und residence permits should be intrinsically linked in order to allow firms to better allocate the human resources..."
