By John Ashely
While European leaders hold press conferences decrying the rise in illegal immigration, a more silent — and arguably more damaging — extraction is underway. Algeria’s most brilliant minds are being siphoned off at an alarming rate by European and North American nations. These are not desperate refugees, but doctors, engineers, PhDs, and inventors — men and women whom Algeria has invested in heavily, and who now find their skills in high demand abroad.
Across Paris, Montreal, Brussels, and Berlin, the signs are clear: Western economies are feasting on Algeria’s intellectual elite, offering fast-track visas, permanent residency, and lucrative salaries to the country’s brightest — just as Algeria begins to need them most.
La Crème de la Crème — At Algeria’s Expense
Canada, in particular, has made no secret of its plans to attract skilled North Africans. Immigration strategies and partnerships are designed specifically to pull in “la crème” — the best and brightest. Europe, too, is quietly recruiting top Algerian talent into its hospitals, laboratories, and universities. Algerian doctors now fill staffing shortages across French medical facilities, while IT engineers and AI researchers from Algiers and Oran are helping to build Europe’s digital future.
This is the real brain drain — not the men on makeshift boats crossing the Mediterranean, but the qualified, legal emigrants who are welcomed with open arms.
Europe’s Double Standard
And yet, when it comes to the less qualified — those seeking a better life through irregular migration — Europe slams its doors shut. These same countries that roll out the red carpet for Algeria’s neurologists and architects are deporting manual labourers, asylum seekers, and unskilled workers.
This hypocrisy begs the question: how can Europe claim a moral high ground, benefiting from the best Algeria has to offer while refusing the rest? How long can this imbalance continue before Algeria decides to address it head-on?
Algeria’s Investment, Europe’s Reward
Algerian taxpayers have funded the education of thousands of skilled professionals — many of whom now serve foreign economies. Medical school, engineering programs, scientific research — all funded locally, only for their fruits to be harvested elsewhere.
What does Algeria get in return? Often, little more than a congratulatory mention of “integration success” in European headlines. The long-term consequences for Algeria’s health system, innovation sectors, and development agenda are grave.
A Bold Proposal?
If Europe continues to benefit from Algeria’s best while denying the rest, perhaps it is time for Algeria to reconsider its approach entirely. If the West is only interested in the elite, and dismissive or even hostile toward the ordinary, then maybe it is time to expose the double standard more publicly.
Some voices — frustrated and sharp — have suggested that if the West wants the cream, let them also deal with the flow. “If I were the Algerian government,” one frustrated commentator recently said, “I would subsidise the illegal boats. Let Europe take full responsibility for the consequences of its cherry-picking strategy.”
It’s a harsh statement — but it reflects a deep and growing anger in Algeria, and across Africa, over the exploitation of African human capital without fair partnership or reciprocity.
Time for a Fair Deal
Algeria is not demanding sympathy — only fairness. If Europe and Canada wish to benefit from Algerian minds, then they must also be ready to invest in Algeria’s future, not simply extract from it. That means supporting infrastructure, technology transfer, joint training programmes, and reinvestment in the very systems that produce such talent.
Otherwise, this one-sided arrangement will deepen resentment and fuel instability — both politically and socially — on both sides of the Mediterranean.
