EU drops plan to give African migrants deportation papers
Leaders of the European Union and their African counterparts gather on the steps of the office of Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for the opening ceremony of the Valletta Summit on Migration in Valletta
• The Libyan beach where migrants lie in unmarked mass graves
Highly controversial European Union plans to deport tens of thousands of Africa migrants with improvised passports have been watered down after fierce protests from the continent's leaders.
Plans to introduce a ‘laissez passer’, an EU-issued travel document that would allow thousands of failed asylum seekers who had destroyed or lost their paperwork to be sent home, appeared to have been scrapped after African leaders said it had no precedent in international law.
A draft diplomatic text circulated two weeks ago had proposed to use the “EU laissez passer for return purposes once identification had been established”.
But after lengthy negotiations it was cut from a final version of the 'action plan', obtained by the Telegraph, being discussed by the two continents' leaders in Malta today. There was instead a more vague reference to "travel documents".
Leaders including David Cameron were treated to a spectacular light show on the walls of the castle as they met on the Mediterranean island nation, and before any agreement was secured, a six-tonne marble statue commemorating the summit was unveiled.
(L-R) Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande attend the Valletta Summit on Migration Photo: Reuters
A senior EU official had earlier this week admitted that African leaders were driving a hard bargain, trying to secure more legal migration to Africa and making any deportations voluntary, not compulsory.
“There is still some pushing by our African partners to try and get more if possible on legal migration, to get a bit more opening from EU member states. They would like us to insist more upon voluntary returns than other types of return.”
Around 125,000 migrants of sub-Saharan African nationality entered Europe in the past 18 months, according to figures from Frontex, the EU border office. They include 52,000 Eritreans, 16,000 Nigerians, 6,500 Sudanese, 14,000 Somalians and 35,000 who could not be identified.
• Meet the volunteers cleaning up after Libya's people-smuggling tragedies
David Cameron announced Britain would spend an extra £200 million in aid in Africa over the next four years on education, job-creation schemes and education, as he pushes the continents’ leaders to accept failed asylum seekers.
“The PM will say to them you have got to work with us on the migration crisis, you need to work more with us on returns and establishing a smoother, quicker returns process,” said a British source. “We are looking how we can invest in some of the causes of migration while also saying to them there is clearly more they can do.”
Mr Cameron said Britain had a “huge and historic” role to play in the migration crisis as he visited the company of HMS Bulwark, the British assault ship that has helped rescue migrants in the Mediterranean and which is moored in Valletta harbour.
He said the crisis is “the biggest problem facing Europe today”, and told the sailors and Royal Marines: “You should be incredibly proud of the lives you have saved. There will be people who will live out extraordinary dreams and lives that wouldn’t have happened were it not for what you have done in the Mediterranean.”
Slovenia today started erecting a 50-mile fence on its border with Croatia in an attempt to stem the migrant flow, in the latest strain to the passport-free Schengen zone.
Around 180,000 people, many fleeing war in Syria and Afghanistan, have streamed into Slovenia since mid-October after trekking northwards along a Balkan corridor from Greece, most of them bound ultimately for Austria and then Germany.
• The Libyan beach where migrants lie in unmarked mass graves
Highly controversial European Union plans to deport tens of thousands of Africa migrants with improvised passports have been watered down after fierce protests from the continent's leaders.
Plans to introduce a ‘laissez passer’, an EU-issued travel document that would allow thousands of failed asylum seekers who had destroyed or lost their paperwork to be sent home, appeared to have been scrapped after African leaders said it had no precedent in international law.
A draft diplomatic text circulated two weeks ago had proposed to use the “EU laissez passer for return purposes once identification had been established”.
But after lengthy negotiations it was cut from a final version of the 'action plan', obtained by the Telegraph, being discussed by the two continents' leaders in Malta today. There was instead a more vague reference to "travel documents".
Leaders including David Cameron were treated to a spectacular light show on the walls of the castle as they met on the Mediterranean island nation, and before any agreement was secured, a six-tonne marble statue commemorating the summit was unveiled.
A senior EU official had earlier this week admitted that African leaders were driving a hard bargain, trying to secure more legal migration to Africa and making any deportations voluntary, not compulsory.
“There is still some pushing by our African partners to try and get more if possible on legal migration, to get a bit more opening from EU member states. They would like us to insist more upon voluntary returns than other types of return.”
Around 125,000 migrants of sub-Saharan African nationality entered Europe in the past 18 months, according to figures from Frontex, the EU border office. They include 52,000 Eritreans, 16,000 Nigerians, 6,500 Sudanese, 14,000 Somalians and 35,000 who could not be identified.
• Meet the volunteers cleaning up after Libya's people-smuggling tragedies
David Cameron announced Britain would spend an extra £200 million in aid in Africa over the next four years on education, job-creation schemes and education, as he pushes the continents’ leaders to accept failed asylum seekers.
“The PM will say to them you have got to work with us on the migration crisis, you need to work more with us on returns and establishing a smoother, quicker returns process,” said a British source. “We are looking how we can invest in some of the causes of migration while also saying to them there is clearly more they can do.”
Mr Cameron said Britain had a “huge and historic” role to play in the migration crisis as he visited the company of HMS Bulwark, the British assault ship that has helped rescue migrants in the Mediterranean and which is moored in Valletta harbour.
He said the crisis is “the biggest problem facing Europe today”, and told the sailors and Royal Marines: “You should be incredibly proud of the lives you have saved. There will be people who will live out extraordinary dreams and lives that wouldn’t have happened were it not for what you have done in the Mediterranean.”
Slovenia today started erecting a 50-mile fence on its border with Croatia in an attempt to stem the migrant flow, in the latest strain to the passport-free Schengen zone.
Around 180,000 people, many fleeing war in Syria and Afghanistan, have streamed into Slovenia since mid-October after trekking northwards along a Balkan corridor from Greece, most of them bound ultimately for Austria and then Germany.
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