Mass immigration from Africa 'could create a full-scale crisis'

Warning: Damian Green said the UK was ready to advise other EU nations on how to deal with north African immigrants
12 April 2012

Britain has warned against a "full-scale immigration crisis" at the heart of Europe as EU countries moved to end passport-free travel.

Immigration minister Damian Green said the UK was ready to advise other EU nations on how to deal with thousands of people fleeing violence-ravaged north African countries for Europe.

"We are doing our best to make sure that this does not turn into a full-scale immigration crisis for the Schengen area," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Free travel across national borders is a cornerstone of EU policy, drawn up under the Schengen agreement, which was named after the town in Luxembourg where the treaty was signed in 1985.

Many countries now blame an increase in illegal immigration and crime on the system which allows people to move freely, without visas or border checks, through all 25 nations of the Schengen zone, which includes Switzerland, Iceland and Norway.

Britain has kept its borders controls and did not sign up to Schengen. However, many of the immigrants who arrive in southern Europe head north, often here.

A meeting of interior ministers in Brussels yesterday paved the way for countries to redeploy border guards, at least temporarily, to carry out checks. Fifteen Schengen member states backed the dramatic shift in policy which is being pushed by France and Italy, which have clashed over the arrival of Tunisian refugees.

They also want north African countries to send illegal immigrants home. The changes will have to be ratified at an EU summit next month.

But concerns over a huge influx of immigrants from north Africa has split the Schengen countries. Denmark came under fire after it said it would install permanent posts on its frontiers to curb crime and illegal immigration.

"What is the answer in bringing back borders? What will it produce? Nothing," said Belgian migration minister Melchior Wathelet. "Too bad it is being brought forward by several nations."

The increase in illegal immigration has been seized upon by many Right-wing movements to push for border checks. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing a challenge from the Front National in next year's elections.

The European Commission, which oversees how governments implement EU rules, said it had asked Denmark for details of its plans to see if they complied with the bloc's treaties and laws.

"We would, however, like to make it quite clear that the Commission cannot accept and will not accept actions that are a step backward from the treaty on European Union as regards free movement of goods and persons across internal borders," said a commission spokesman.

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