Brussels set to tackle migration... by inviting even more
BRUSSELS wants to tackle the migrant crisis by inviting yet more people into the EU.
Under a European Commission plan, migrants from Africa and the Middle East will be given US-style green cards granting them work rights.
They will also be able to bring their families. The move comes on top of the million migrants who reached Europe last year and the 206,000 in the first five months of 2016.
Officials believe the offer of a right to come to Europe will curb illegal migration. They also propose handing £6.2billion in aid to African countries in an apparent attempt to repeat a £4.7billion border deal with Turkey.
With migration dominating the referendum debate:
Europe’s highest court yesterday blasted France for detaining a refugee caught with a stolen passport at the Channel Tunnel entrance;
Figures showed that more than 30,000 non-EU immigrants every year exploit a back door into Britain created by Brussels for use by accompanying families;
Border Force officials reportedly intercepted three migrants in a small boat in the Channel;
Dramatic pictures showed hundreds more rescued by a Spanish navy frigate in the Mediterranean;
UN officials said more than 10,000 people have died trying to cross to Europe since 2014.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, the mastermind of the action plan, has repeatedly said the EU needs to expand its legal routes of migration.
He has said that unless Europe’s leaders decide to ‘open the door’, the migrants will just ‘break in through the window’.
But last night, eurosceptics accused the Commission of ‘insanity’ over its latest plan, saying it was simply ‘piling yet more fuel on to the fire’.
The Commission said it wanted member states to give out more work permits allowing migrants from outside the EU to move legally.
Eurocrats said a ‘blue cards’ system to allow highly skilled foreign workers to live and work in the continent was currently under-used and would be relaunched.
Rules will be relaxed so migrants will only need a job offer with a six-month contract instead of one year to qualify for the scheme. A website will be launched to encourage more people to move. It will be up to EU countries to decide how many blue cards they hand out. The UK will be exempt from the scheme.
But Tory MEP David Campbell-Bannerman said: ‘The European Commission is piling yet more fuel on to the fire, whilst sending us the bill for the crisis in a budget postponed until after the referendum.
‘These latest proposals show just how dangerous it is for our security and economy to stay in the EU. Brexit would liberate us from such insanity.’ Labour MP and Vote Leave campaign chairman Gisela Stuart said yesterday: ‘It’s a strange world, where the desire to deal with a migration crisis leads to a decision that will doubtless have the opposite effect.
‘Having comprehensively failed to come up with a longterm strategy, the plan appears to be to open our borders ever wider.
‘It’s an unholy mess that presents serious security risks as well as all the other pressures that increased migration flows would bring.’ The Commission said that it also planned to spend £6.2billion over four years on deals with countries including Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Ethiopia, to help tackle the migrant crisis.
Funds would be spent on increased border control and on investment projects to increase job prospects so people are less likely to want to leave.
EC vice-president Frans Timmermans said: ‘We propose to use a mix of positive and negative incentives to reward those third countries willing to co-operate effectively with us and to ensure that there are consequences for those who do not.’
The EU’s deal with Turkey has seen a dramatic reduction in numbers crossing to the Greek islands, but there has been a surge in those attempting to get from North Africa to Italy in the past few weeks.
The suspected migrants crossing the Channel were spotted at 5.23am. Border Force officials were contacted by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and a cutter was deployed.
They were transported to Dover where immigration officials began processing the group.
‘Piling yet more fuel on the fire’