The European Commission today presented a new immigration proposal which intends to provide financial support to link the main African and Middle Eastern transit countries to two conditions

The European Commission today presented a new immigration proposal which intends to provide financial support to link the main African and Middle Eastern transit countries to two conditions: firstly, these countries seek to discourage migrants from seeking travel to Europe, and secondly they must take back illegal migrants from Europe.

“MEP Helga Stevens, ECR home affairs deputy spokesman, reacted with cautious optimism to the plan: “We need to work with all of the countries around the Mediterranean to help reduce the intake of refugees into Europe. Combined with a robust border policy and action to tackle the traffickers we can finally begin to look at a global handling of the migration crisis.
“We need to show transit countries outside the EU that they must live up to their responsibilities and accept the returns of people who entered Europe as economic migrants, otherwise they risk losing support and aid.
“Most importantly, we need to help to create better living conditions in the countries of origin, because otherwise people will continue to risk their lives. A stable and economically prosperous home region prevents people from making a perilous journey. It therefore makes sense that countries wanting to cooperate with us to stem the flows can count on more help, as investment would help to reduce unemployment and poverty in the origin countries of emigration.”