‘Madness’: the secret EU deal for migrants
EUROPEAN ministers have devised a dramatic plan to solve the migration crisis, offering a series of sweeteners in exchange for sending illegal migrants back to Africa.
They will provide cash and visas to persuade African countries to take back some of the 800,000 asylum seekers who have flooded across the Mediterranean into Europe this year.
But in return, the proposed deal, details of which have been seen by The
Sunday Telegraph, would give thousands of African students, doctors and entrepreneurs an open door to move into the European Union.
Officials are preparing to justify the highly controversial arrangement by saying only professionals who will contribute to society would be allowed into the EU. But critics last night described the proposed scheme as “madness” and warned that it would push the British public towards voting for the UK to leave the EU in the forthcoming referendum.
The plan emerged as David Cameron prepared to send a key letter to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, setting out “the broad outlines” of his demands for reforming Britain’s relationship with the EU.
Mr Cameron has promised to negotiate a better deal for Britain’s membership of the EU before putting the new terms to a vote in an In-Out referendum by the end of 2017.
On Tuesday, he will use a major speech to make his strongest threat so far that he could recommend an Out vote if Europe ignores British requests for change.
However, some of Mr Cameron’s own Cabinet ministers have privately given up hope that he will secure the kind of radical changes to Britain’s EU membership that they want.
The Prime Minister will seek to press his case for European reforms in talks at Wednesday’s summit on the migration crisis, in Valletta, Malta. However, he will first have to decide whether to accept the controversial new blueprint for addressing the migration crisis.
While British officials appeared sceptical about the proposal, Mr Cameron faced an awkward decision over whether to veto the plan and risk infuriating other European leaders whom he needs to woo in order to secure his referendum reforms.
Under the plan, students, doctors and entrepreneurs from African countries would be given language training, visas and job offers to entice them to travel to Europe. Officially, the plans are intended to undermine the multi-billionpound illegal smuggling industry by offering migrants legal routes to Europe.
However, a leaked draft of the text confirms that the scheme is also a carrot to encourage African leaders to take back tens of thousands of illegal migrants whom European countries want to deport. The EU will offer £1.3billion
in aid under what is being called a “trust fund” for countries including Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.
Nigel Farage, the UK Independence Party leader, said: “The EU’s way to stop illegal mass migration from Africa is to make it legal. This is sheer madness.”
Sir Bill Cash, the Conservative chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, said the migration crisis could tilt the referendum in favour of exit from the European Union.
He said: “I have previously said there would be a tsunami and we would be swamped – and now we are told it is to be three million people. We have to keep control of our borders.”
The plan would not have a direct im- pact on the UK because Britain is not a member of the Schengen common migration zone within the EU.
Mr Cameron’s demands for EU reform will include an explicit statement that the UK will not be part of moves towards creating an EU “superstate”. They will also contain demands for curbing the welfare entitlements among EU migrants in the UK, and measures to boost economic competitiveness in the European single market.
Last night, Mr Cameron’s demands left colleagues unimpressed. One Cabinet source said: “We should be asking the Europeans for big reforms. But this is all smoke and mirrors. It looks like the PM is not even asking for radical changes and therefore we are not going to get much back.”
Another Cabinet minister said: “I would like Parliament to have the option of whether we implement EU directives or not. The UK Parliament must be sovereign. Our relationship with the EU must be primarily focused on the single market.”