Bill Gates has warned that European leaders risk deepening the migrant crisis by being too generous to those arriving on the continent.
The Microsoft founder said countries such as Germany will not be able to handle the ‘huge’ numbers of migrants waiting to leave Africa and find a better life overseas, rt.com reports.
Instead, the 61-year-old suggested spending more on foreign aid to treat the root causes of migration, while making it more difficult for people to reach the continent.
During an interview Germany’s Welt am Sonntag, Gates, who is Microsoft’s founder and one of the richest people on the planet, warned of the grave consequences of exceeding generosity towards refugees coming to Europe, whose numbers would only rise unless something is done.
“On the one hand you want to demonstrate generosity and take in refugees, but the more generous you are, the more word gets around about this – which in turn motivates more people to leave Africa,” Gates said.
While Germany has been one of the pioneers of the open door policy, it cannot “take in the huge, massive number of people who are wanting to make their way to Europe.”
Thus Gates advised European nations to take action in order to make it “more difficult for Africans to reach the continent via the current transit routes.”
At the same time foreign aid can prevent “enormous [migratory] pressure” looming over Europe due to the rapid growth of the African population, according to Gates.
He said that European states should follow Germany’s example of providing 0.7 per cent of GDP to foreign aid payments.
The Gates interview comes amid the ongoing influx of refugees to Europe, which has triggered tensions within the EU, as some of the bloc members meant to accommodate them refuse to fulfill their obligations in accordance with a 2015 plan, Daily Mail reports.
Countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic are facing legal action from the European Commission for failing to take in their share of the quota.
In a more recent spat stemming from the influx of foreigners, on Tuesday, Italy summoned the Austrian ambassador over Vienna’s decision to re-introduce border controls between the two countries “to prepare for the migration development.”
Italy, one of the points of entry is facing a huge flow of asylum seekers on their way to Europe with almost 85,000 of migrants and refugees have arriving in Italy by sea this year.
Rome has repeatedly pleaded for other nations to do their part in taking and relocating refugees with Italy reportedly threatened to close its ports for rescue vessels in the Mediterranean Sea last week.
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