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Human capital

In May, the prestigious French Institute of Foreign Relations issued a report warning of Europe's imminent decline into global insignificance. According to World Trade in the 21st Century, by the year 2050, Europe's share of global production will be 12 per cent - about half today's figure. This would place Europe a long way behind the United States and China, each of which is predicted to have a 25 per cent share of global output.

The European Union already lags behind the US in political and military power - a decline in its economic clout would complete its marginalisation. Describing this slide, the report said: 'The EU will weigh less heavily on the process of globalisation and a slow but inexorable movement on to history's 'exit ramp' can be foreseen.'

At the heart of the dire prediction are two European trends: a shrinking labour force and a declining birth rate, which will see the EU's current population of 493 million drop to 434 million by 2050.

This, the report claimed, will not be offset even by the expansion of the EU to 30 countries, or its absorption of millions of largely Muslim immigrants. Besides, it is doubtful if Europe's largely white citizenry would be willing to see it become increasingly Islamic.

But there is one thing the report does not consider: how Europe might yet be saved by the Philippines.

There are at least 800,000 Filipinos all over Europe and the number is growing. The daily flights between Manila and cities like Frankfurt and Paris resemble nothing less than commuter trips: planeloads of Filipinos coming and going to work.

The traffic was initially spurred, and is still largely sustained, by a demand for Filipina domestic helpers. But the profile of workers is gradually changing as Filipino seamen, nurses, hotel and restaurant employees, computer programmers and telecom engineers join the queue.

Not only are they working, they are settling. Across Europe, from Scandinavia down through Benelux, Germany, Austria and Italy, Filipinos are putting down roots, raising families and becoming EU citizens. Every day, the immigration counter at the Manila international airport receives lines of what appear to be Filipinos - until they start bringing out their documents.

In 50 years, the population of the Philippines is expected to be 500 million - bigger than that of the EU. The country can magnanimously afford to send a couple of hundred million Filipinos to help save Europe.

It would be a mutually beneficial arrangement. There is little doubt that Filipinos are appreciated in Europe. They work hard, they do not make trouble and they are, by and large, respectable members of the community. Filipinos are Christian, at least nominally so. They speak English, which many Europeans are desperately trying to learn. They have a sense of humour, which the dour countries of northern Europe could use, and an immigrant work ethic which Italians value and empathise with.

Certainly, German verb conjugation might pose a problem, but it should not be insurmountable. French bureaucracy should be child's play to anyone who has ever had to deal with its Philippine equivalent. And there would be absolutely no problem adjusting to the so-called disorganisation and inefficiency of Italy - it is no coincidence that the largest cluster of Filipino immigrants lives in that country.

Look at the payoff in terms of unity and amity. In the future, when a Filipino-Italian meets a Filipino-German there will be no raking over historical slights. Instead, both hyphenated citizens might end up discovering they come from the same province back in the Philippines.

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