> It's simply not politically feasable to say, "Without immigrants, our economy is f'ed."
And yet, that's what politicians in Germany are saying: "Denn Deutschland braucht sie dringend: Durch die seit Jahrzehnten sinkende Geburtenrate gibt es auch weniger Arbeitskräfte. Diese Lücke konnte lange über Zuwanderung aus dem EU-Ausland gefüllt werden. Doch inzwischen reicht das nicht mehr aus." (https://www.spdfraktion.de/themen/neustart-migrationspolitik, the social-democrat representatives in Parliament)
"Because Germany needs them urgently: Due to the declining birth rate for decades, there are also fewer workers. For a long time, this gap could be filled by immigration from other EU countries. But this is no longer enough."
> its how they partially make up for a declining birthrate.
To the detriment of their origin countries who suffer from losing their best and brightest. How "Northern countries exploit the South again" is a (rather quiet) talking point that I believe will become louder in the future.