BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium. The EU rejected Britain’s claims that its new plan to deal with migrants crossing the Mediterranean would put more lives at risk, saying that taking no action was more dangerous.
“What will make the situation worse is doing nothing… I wonder how anyone could maintain that this could make the situation worse,” Frans Timmermans, European Commission first vice president, told a press conference.
The European Union’s executive proposed taking in 20,000 refugees over two years and distributing them across Europe but giving Britain,Ireland and Denmark the option not to accept any.
Shocked by the deaths of migrants from North Africa trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean, the European Union is trying to put in place a fairer way to resettle asylum-seekers at a time when anti-immigrant parties are on the rise.
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Italy and other southern European countries are clamouring for EU help to deal with the influx but, while Italy, Germany and Austria back a quota system, some EU states are opposed.
“No country should be left alone to address huge migratory pressures,” Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, said on his Twitter account after the proposals were published.
Under a quota scheme based on country size, economic output and other measures, Germany would take the most migrants followed by France and Italy, assuming Britain opts out.
Hours before the plans were unveiled, Theresa May, Home Secretary, criticised the EU’s approach, saying that by not sending economic migrants back, the bloc was encouraging them to come.
Credit: The Telegraph (UK)
