The European Commission released this week an internal report including an action plan to confront the social, political and economic repercussions of the war in Ukraine on the countries neighboring Europe and beyond.
It warned of short and medium-term deep crises in African and Middle Eastern countries.
The report, seen by Asharq Al-Awsat, said the growing risk of a catastrophic famine in North Africa could lead to new waves of social protest, internal movements and migration to neighboring regions, especially Italy, Spain and Malta.
Prepared by experts of the Commission and the European Council on Foreign Relations, the report was only distributed to the governments of EU member states earlier this week.
The experts hope that their plan could serve as a road map for responding to the repercussions of the war on countries close to the battlefronts such as Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan and on countries far from Ukraine such as Bangladesh, Mongolia, Mexico and Argentina.
The 28-page report speaks of the difficult conditions in many countries, including the Balkan states, Turkey, Latin America, Central Asia, the Middle East, the Maghreb and sub-Saharan African countries.
It noted that all these countries are witnessing growing turmoil due to the repercussions of the Ukraine war and shortages of vital supplies.
The report reminded that as part of its wide-ranging response to mitigate the impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on the EU’s partner countries, the European Commission has lately presented an initiative for a regional “Food and Resilience Facility” worth €225 million to address the consequences of rising prices of food and commodities in Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, and Palestine.
