THE migration crisis in the Mediterranean is “reaching our borders” and “putting great pressure” on European cities such as Calais, Theresa May said yesterday.
The tens of thousands of Africans attempting to cross the sea must be sent back so they “see there is no merit in this journey”, the Home Secretary said.
HMS Bulwark, the British warship that has rescued 2,700 migrants, is due to leave the Mediterranean in three weeks, the Ministry of Defence confirmed last night. It was deployed before the election on a 60-day commitment, following the drowning of more than 800 people off the coast of Libya. Today David Cameron, the Prime Minister, will be urged to rewrite EU-wide migration rules, in a move that would likely result in many more people settling in Britain.
Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, will ask Mr Cameron to consider changing the Dublin protocol, which obliges asylum seekers to stay in the first country they reach – leaving Italy to take in the lion’s share of migrants fleeing violence in Libya and Eritrea. Those same rules have allowed Britain to deport around 15,000 migrants to other European countries.
Mr Cameron is meeting his counterpart in Milan to outline his vision of EU reform, and the men are likely to share common ground on securing a free trade deal with the US and cutting EU red tape. However, Mr Cameron’s proposals to curb European migration by cutting inwork benefits risks a cool reception, at a time when Mr Renzi is desperate to encourage non-EU migrants to leave his country.
Mr Renzi is thought to be considering a politically explosive move of issuing migrants with visas that would allow them to travel freely in Europe’s Schengen zone. Mr Cameron’s spokesman criticised the suggestion, saying: “We should not be encouraging the pull factors that suggest to migrants that there is a route to a life in Europe here if you get on a boat from the other side of the Mediterranean.
“We will talk to Renzi about what more we can be doing to stem that flow, particularly on the other shores of the Mediterranean.”