New migrant flood on way: Outrage after EU warns Britain to prepare for more foreigners
BRITAIN could be forced to accept a new surge of migrants under Brussels plans to set up migration centres in Africa and the Middle East to process asylum applications.
Critics fear the centres will open up new routes into the country for illegal immigrants.
The scheme will give hope to migrants who previously would have had to journey thousands of miles to make their claims.
It will also allow Brussels to try and force Britain to accept asylum seeker quotas.
News of the EU home affairs commissioner’s plan to open new routes into Europe and boost the numbers granted sanctuary was greeted with outrage yesterday.
Critics warned that EU offices in far-flung countries will be deluged with whole families wanting to escape the grinding poverty of their homelands for a new life in the UK.
Alp Mehmet, of MigrationWatch, said: “This is a half-baked idea that will only add to the problems the UK and other European countries have with illegal immigration.
“All these centres will do is act as a magnet for more people who want to come to Britain.”
Ukip MEP Gerard Batten said: “This plan shows the EU wants to take control of immigration policy for every country and impose rules on them so it decides how many refugees we admit.
“Those in charge in Brussels want to set up more legal pathways for migrants to get into the UK.
"We have already been swamped, now we have to prepare for a deluge.”
Tory backbench MP Philip Hollobone said: “This is evidence of the EU’s further descent into madness.
"The EU’s immigration policy is in chaos and is already effectively an open door to illegal migrants from around the world.
"It is a recipe for disaster.”
**CLICK HERE TO SEE MIGRANTS SLEEPING ROUGH IN POSH AREAS OF LONDON**
We have already been swamped, now we have to prepare for a deluge
Proposals for processing centres in countries such as Libya, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon and Somalia emerged this week when Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters he wanted more entry routes into the EU for migrants and to increase the number of “resettlement places” for them.
Asylum processing centres will be added to EU embassies and offices around the world, he pledged.
He added: “We need more legal routes for people to arrive in Europe safely.
"I have also called for more resettlement places.
"The ones who want to seek for asylum, they will be in a position to do it in their country of origin.
"We are planning right now to appoint immigration attaches to our delegations there.”
He claimed using the centres would save the lives of thousands of migrants who die every year trying to get to the EU and cut the number of illegal immigrants landing on our shores.
The career diplomat and former mayor of Athens said he had also set up a group to develop a pilot scheme to allocate quotas of asylum seekers around the EU “based on the principle of shared responsibility”.
At present, immigration policy rests with national governments and not Brussels. Refugees have to register their claims in the first EU country they enter.
Mr Avramopoulos’s project, which is being fast-tracked through the Commission, is expected to be put forward for approval in mid-May.
His plans have won support in countries at the front line of EU migration including Italy, Malta and Greece.
Germany is also said to be backing the idea.
Of the 270,000 migrants who arrived in Europe illegally last year, more than 220,000 of them came through North Africa.
Correction
This article was amended on 12 March 2015 following a complaint from the British Red Cross. The article previously included the phrase “bogus refugees”. Refugees by definition have already been granted asylum and cannot therefore be “bogus”. The phrase has been changed to “migrants”.
