Shore up your borders, PM tells Europe
STOPPING illegal migration and securing countries’ borders must be Europe’s top priority, Rishi Sunak has insisted.
The Prime Minister is expected to spell out the need to address the issue when he joins fellow leaders in Moldova for a meeting of the European Political Community.
He said: “Europe is facing unprecedented threats at our borders. From [Russian leader-Vladimir] Putin’s utter contempt of other countries’ sovereignty to the rise in organised immigration crime across our continent.
“We cannot address these problems without Europe’s governments and institutions working closely together.
“In every meeting, every summit, every international gathering like this, the security of our borders must be top of the agenda.
Mr Sunak will add: “The UK will be at the heart of this international effort to stop the boats and defend our national security.”
Gangs
The Prime Minister is expected to announce the start of negotiations on a new returns agreement with Moldova to allow the UK to return foreign nationals found to be breaking immigration law.
It comes as a similar deal with Georgia enters into force.
Mr Sunak plans to meet Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez and Polish premier Mateusz Morawiecki today.
He is also expected to announce an increase in bilateral intelligence sharing with Bulgaria to crackdown on criminal gangs involved in illegal migration. Migrant crossings into the EU increased by 64 per cent last year and organised criminal gangs are using networks across Europe to commit cross-border crime and profit from human misery, Downing Street said.
In attending the summit in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, Mr Sunak follows in the footsteps of his predecessor Liz Truss.
During her short-lived premiership, she made time to attend the first meeting, in the Czech Republic, last October.