Britain urges European Union to speed migrant deportation

Brussels will also threaten to withdraw aid, trade deals and visa arrangements from African countries refusing to take back economic migrants under the plan.

French officials, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that in the short term, member states would be obliged to contribute more personnel to the Frontex border agency based on their population, wealth and other criteria.

By the end of 2015, the European bloc will consider the deployment of the European Migration Liaison Officers (EMLOs) to Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Pakistan, Serbia, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Sudan, Turkey and Jordan, according to the Council’s statement.

But a small number is as deportations will be the obligation of individual member states the European Union as a whole can do, he includes.

Migrants climb out of the windows of a train after they arrived at… “But those who don’t need this kind of protection, will have to return to their countries of origin”, said Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg Foreign Affairs Minister.

May also suggested that other countries in the European Union take more refugees directly from camps outside Europe.

“We need to see Europe upping its game,” said Britain’s Home Secretary Minister Theresa May, on her arrival for the meeting in Luxembourg.

It comes amid a surge in refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war.

In recent years, less than 40 percent of people who’ve had their asylum claims rejected have actually then left the EU.

In a sign that a few had reservations, migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told Thursday’s press conference that “almost everybody” agreed on the need on for “shared responsibility” for securing the external borders.

Shared systems already in place such as the Schengen Information System and Smart Borders that hold records of third-country nationals entering the European Union are to be used more comprehensively by member states.

Italy for years has demanded Europe shoulder more of the burden of the continent’s refugee crisis, even though most migrants prefer to pass through Italy en route to destinations further north. Alfano though is keen to show off the first flight to try to quiet anti-immigrant critics at home.

The first batch consists of around 20 Eritreans who are due to be relocated to Sweden from Italy on Friday. “On top of that will come specific self-defensive measures to limit migration, such as sending back people to the border with Austria and the immediate transfer of newly arrived asylum seekers within Germany”, he said.

Reports show for instance that in the eastern German city of Erfurt about 8,000 people protested against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcome for refugees, and in Finland arsonists tried to set fire to a refugee reception centre in the southern town of Lammi.