ABSTRACT
Since the mid-1970s, the more developed countries of Europe have closed their borders to immigrants from the less-developed countries of Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa. By closing their borders, European countries hoped not only to end flows of foreigners and to decrease the resident foreign population. Employment conditions were crucial in the decision to close the borders. The conflict between the declared intention of the more developed European countries not to reopen their borders and the existing and increasing labor-export pressure from the less-developed countries raises a question of the relevance of development assistance strategies as a means of decreasing this pressure and alleviating the north-south disequilibrium. As in the US, Central American and South American situation, the geographic proximity of Western Europe to Africa exacerbates the disparity in development between the two continents.
