By Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Mario Draghi
Europe should see the current migration crisis as an opportunity, as public spending on migrants will likely stimulate economic growth in the eurozone, European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi said Friday at the World Economic Forum.
Draghi said that growth was currently driven by the monetary and fiscal policies in the eurozone as well as by low oil prices.
Migration would probably become the fourth stimulus factor, the ECB president said at the annual gathering of government and business leaders in the Swiss village of Davos.
“The government expenditure that will be needed to cope with this challenge could actually turn out to be the largest public investment project we had for a great number of years,” he added.
At the same time, the Italian ECB chief acknowledged that the influx of migrants, which amounted to around 1 million last year, was a major challenge for Europe, and that it was unclear when this challenge would turn into an economic opportunity.
EU chief diplomat Federica Mogherini warned at the summit that the current revival of border controls in Europe’s borderless Schengen region could hurt the European Union’s economic recovery.
Countries along Europe’s main migratory route, from Scandinavia to the Balkans, have increased border controls or intermittently closed borders over the past months and weeks in an effort to stem the inflow of people.
Mogherini said the erosion of the Schengen area would affect the movement of goods and people and would have “impressive” economic costs, according to EU studies.
“We are coming out hopefully of a long economic and financial crisis in Europe,” Mogherini said.
“We risk to go back to an economically difficult situation – a self-inflicted one, which would be quite short-sighted,” she added.
Mogherini warned that this could cause a domino effect back to Syria’s neighbouring states, where ballooning numbers of refugees threaten to overstretch host countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan
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