WE FORECAST A TORRID SUMMER OF MIGRANT CHAOS... AND ALREADY 115,109 HAVE MANAGED TO LAND IN EUROPE
EUROPE is in the grip of a new migrant onslaught with more than 115,000 reaching the mainland by sea this year, figures show.
Some 95,215 new arrivals made it to Italy after crossing the Mediterranean from north Africa, with the remainder pouring in through Greece, Cyprus and Spain.
EU officials claimed the bloc had “redoubled its efforts” to stop the flood but last night German intelligence warned that tens of thousands more migrants could arrive via the Balkans.
The figures come after the Daily Express earlier this year predicted a summer of chaos from a deluge of migrants into Europe.
The surge has put UK border guards on alert and sparked fears of a return to the chaos of 2015 when migrant numbers in Europe were at their highest in 25 years.
Ukip home affairs spokeswoman Jane Collins said: “Here is proof of the EU’s systemic failure to tackle the migrant crisis. Despite their desire to seize control of all border rules for its member countries, despite its promises to redouble efforts, despite its claims it has made changes to improve security, it has failed: The continent is being flooded with migrants and very few of them are genuine refugees.”
Besieged Italian authorities said the majority arriving by sea are aged between 20 and 30 and had travelled from Nigeria, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Eritrea, Senegal, Sudan, Morocco and Gambia.
The “unsustainable” influx has seen Libya – a gateway for thousands of sub-Saharan Africans – threaten to shut its ports and send back boatloads of migrants. Frontex, the European border and coastguard agency, still continues to carry out rescue missions in the Mediterranean. The UN migration agency yesterday said 115,109 made it to Europe between January 1 and August 2. But 2,397 people died during the crossings.
Tory MP David Davies said: “I have been told there are 30 million people looking to make the move from Africa to Europe. We can either open the door or we can say it’s simply impractical. The only way we can do it is by sending them back to Africa – forcibly if necessary.”
Separate figures show 11,353 migrants reached Greece by sea this year, suggesting a deal struck between the EU and Turkey last year failed to stem the tide. Critics said figures from the International Organisation for Migration proved Brussels was powerless to stop people-smugglers. MEP Steven Woolfe said: “This shows how pathetic and meaningless EU politicians’ attempts to close borders are.”
A European Commission spokesman said it was working with countries to fight root causes of migration, adding: “Our approach has started to bring results but there is still a lot more work to be done.”
FOR the third year in a row the EU’s migrant crisis has seen enormous numbers of people trying to sail between the coast of North Africa and southern Europe. This year alone more than 100,000 have arrived in Europe and almost 2,500 have tragically drowned in the Mediterranean.
Still though European leaders have not grasped that the best thing they can do is discourage these boats from setting sail.
Instead we see strategies that are only encouraging more people to try to make the dangerous crossing.
Of particular concern is the policy of sending ships to rescue stricken migrants. Nobody could deny that we have a moral obligation to save the lives of vulnerable people in trouble at sea.
However common sense dictates that if we are to discourage people traffickers then the rescued migrants have to be returned to the North African coast.
The current plan of taking them to Europe acts only as an incentive to attempt the journey.
As a result we now see boats being put to sea with barely enough fuel to get out of Libya’s territorial waters with the traffickers safe in the knowledge that rescuers will take them the rest of the way.
Once there the new arrivals are only adding to the chaos in southern Europe with countries such as Italy unable to cope with an influx that has been going on for years.
The best way to end the migrant crisis and cut the number of drownings is to return rescued boats to North Africa and work harder to ensure that none set sail.
How many have to die and how much damage has to be done to Europe before its leaders wake up to this reality?