France has caused poverty in Africa by ‘never ending colonialism’ – Italian Deputy PM

  “If France did not have the African colonies, which it is impoverishing, it would be the 15th international economic power and instead it is among the first for what it is doing in Africa,”
– Luigi Di Maio, Italian deputy prime minister.

RT | The Italian deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, has blamed France for the European migrant crisis, accusing it of impoverishing African nations with “colonialist” policies. He promised to take the issue to the European Union (EU) and other international bodies.

Di Maio, leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and Italy’s deputy prime minister, launched a scathing attack on France, which he blamed for orchestrating the economic mess in Africa that forces Africans to migrate to Europe. He attacked French policies in Africa, saying that these were part of the colonization process which France is not letting go off.

Paris and Rome have frequently clashed over migration and foreign policy. Reuters and AFP reported that European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau summoned Teresa Castaldo, Italy’s ambassador to France, on Monday afternoon regarding instigative remarks by Di Maio on Saturday.

According to Di Maio, France has created poverty in Africa, and as a result of this it has fueled migration to Europe.

  “If we have people who are leaving Africa now, it’s because some European countries, France in particular, have never stopped colonizing Africa,” said Di Maio. “If France didn’t have its African colonies, because that’s what they should be called, it would be the 15th largest world economy. Instead it’s among the first, exactly because of what it is doing in Africa.”

Di Maio was speaking at a rally on Sunday, when he touched on recent mass migrant drownings in the Mediterranean. It is believed that up to 170 migrants who left Libya and Morocco on ramshackle dinghies may have drowned in the sea last week. Separately, another boat carrying 53 migrants capsized in the western Mediterranean, according to sole survivor of the incident.

  “We would be hypocrites if we just continued to talk about the effects without looking for the causes. If today we have people coming from Africa it’s because some European countries like France never stopped colonizing Africa in their heads,” Di Maio told the crowd.

Di Maio, who also serves as the minister of economic development, referred to the CFA franc, a currency which is used in 14 former French colonies in West and Central Africa. The currency is guaranteed by the French Treasury and has a fixed rate of exchange with the euro. It has often been criticized as a relic of colonial times by proponents of Africa’s full independence from France. They argue that the CFA franc, created in 1945, impedes their economic development as they have no say in French or European monetary policy.

  “There are dozens of African states in which France prints its own currency, the franc of the colonies, and with that, it finances the French public debt,

  “The place of Africans is in Africa and not at the bottom of the sea,” he stated. Di Maio further argued that France would fall far back in the international economic rankings if not for its leverage over its former colonies.

  “If France did not have the African colonies, which it is impoverishing, it would be the 15th international economic power and instead it is among the first for what it is doing in Africa,” he said. France is currently the world’s 7th-largest economy, according to World Bank data for 2017, and the 3rd-biggest economy in Europe after Germany and the UK.

Di Maio said that his party would submit a proposal to parliament to punish France in the coming weeks.

Countries in the CFA franc zone are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

Countries in the zone pool their foreign-exchange reserves, of which half must be deposited with the French treasury. French delegates sit on the central banks’ boards.