The EU ministers have not been successful failed to agree upon a plan for tackling the Mediterranean migrant crisis following disagreements over the settlement of refugees…reports Asian Lite
PHOTO CREDIT: IBTIMES
Home Secretary Theresa May has warned that the crisis was reaching to Uk borders as she arrived for talks with her European counterparts in Luxembourg.
She called for more co-ordinated action to target people traffickers but rejected demands for EU nations to be forced to accept thousands of victims.
The emergency talks were held to try to agree an action plan for dealing with the massive surge in migrants crossing the Mediterranean in recent weeks.
The meeting was unable to resolve the question of where refugees – from Syria and Eritrea – who have arrived in Italy and Greece should be settled.
The European Commission has proposed redistributing around 60,000 Syrian and Eritrean asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to other member states.
Several ministers argued that they should be distributed across the 28-member nations of the EU but Britain and others countries have rejected the plan.
Only about 10 of the EU’s 28 nations support the scheme and even those that do want changes in how the refugee distribution is calculated.
May said, “Of course the crisis in terms of migrants who cross the Mediterranean is a problem in two ways.
“First of all, obviously, lives are being put at risk but secondly, as we see in Calais and elsewhere, it’s putting great pressure on European towns and cities which is even reaching to our borders, although we are not part of the borderless Schengen area.
May said, “The UK is working with other European countries in a number of ways. We are putting effort into the search and rescue that is taking place – HMS Bulwark but also two Border Force cutters, they are doing that work alongside others.
“But we are also working to deal with these terrible criminal gangs who are making a profit out of human lives and human misery. That is essential work.
“Of course as the UK we also put effort into development aid to help these countries, to stabilise them, to provide the economy that means there is no longer the incentive for the journey.”