Europe's ageing population means the
EU needs to create mechanisms for the legal arrival of migrant
workers, Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta said Tuesday,
stressing that this issue "cannot be tackled by member states
individually"
"There is a risk of a sharp drop in the labour supply in the
coming years and, therefore, in the European economy's potential
growth," Panetta said in a lecture at the Roma Tre University
after being awarded an honorary degree.
"This is why a significant effort is needed to allow the
regular, controlled entry of immigrants and their integration
into the labour market.
"A common immigration policy is needed to avoid imbalances in
the face of the asymmetric pressure of mass arrivals from
countries of the South of the world".
Panetta also said that the EU must move from a growth model
based on exports and external demand to "strengthening internal
demand and the single market". He said trade disputes and global
shocks made the current growth strategy "less sustainable and
more risky".
He said that China, one of Europe's "main outlet markets", was
"reducing trade openness as well as making its producers
increasingly competitive".
The governor said that, in the face of global risks, conflicts,
and the end of the previous model of globalisation, "European
countries can only succeed by joining forces and progressing
towards a true economic and monetary union, with closer
integration in both financial and fiscal terms.
"To counter the divisions outside the European Union, we must be
able to count on greater internal integration," he concluded.
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