Václav Klaus for Italian journal Nazione Futura with Jacopo Ugolini: “Before European elections”

1) Europe has been experiencing totally uncontrolled illegal immigration for more than a decade. The response of the European institutions has been the redistribution of migrants between countries. We know, however, that this is only a partial and damaging response for several European states. In your opinion, what should be the European Union's response to this problem? Can the Italian Mattei Plan, i.e. an investment plan in Africa, be the solution?

One should differentiate. We shouldn’t be afraid of individual migration, but of mass migration. Not to differentiate these two fundamentally different phenomena is a conceptual mistake. Individual migration is spontaneous and voluntary. Mass migration is organized both on its “supply” and “demand” sides.