Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade used Barack Obama’s historic victory in the U.S presidential election to take a strike against European Union’s firm immigration policies on Thursday. “At the very moment, the United States succeeded in electing the first Black man as president … France is still trying to close its doors and Europe’s doors to Blacks,” Wade said, according to the Agence France-Presse. “In reality, that’s why we see these immigration agreements that are spreading throughout Europe,” he said, referring to the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, which sets out sweeping new immigration guidelines. The pact, which went into effect October 16, allows experienced workers to enter the 27-member European Union rather than refugees.
The 84-year-old president said: “Why did they do that? They did it to close the doors to Black people except for officials, managers, engineers, doctors: the people they need. There the racism disappears.”