http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/12196091/David-Cameron-to-warn-EU-leaders-to-stand-ready-to-stop-hundreds-of-thousands-of-migrants-crossing-to-Europe-from-Africa-this-summer.html
David Cameron to warn EU leaders to stand ready to stop hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing to Europe from Africa this summer
The news came after the European Commission warned that there are potentially hundreds of thousands migrants waiting in north Africa to cross to mainland Europe once the seas are calmer this summer
By Christopher Hope, Chief Political Correspondent 17 Mar 2016
The European Union must not ignore the risk of a return of large scale migration from Libya to the Mediterranean this summer, David Cameron will warn EU leaders today.
The Prime Minister will use a summit in Brussels to tell other leaders not to allow their attention to be diverted by the hundreds of thousands of migrants trying to get to Europe through the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean.
The news came after the European Commission warned that there are potentially hundreds of thousands migrants waiting in north Africa to cross to mainland Europe once the seas are calmer this summer.
The meeting of the 28 EU country leaders in Brussels today is the third time in four weeks that EU leaders have met to discuss the migration crisis.
At the meeting Mr Cameron will warn that there could be a return of mass migration from Libya because of the aggressive action by Nato against people smugglers in the eastern Mediterrean.
Nearly 2,000 migrants and two corpses have been recovered from people smugglers' boats off Libya since Tuesday, Italy's coastguard said on Wednesday.
The figures represent an increase in the flow of migrants attempting to reach Italy via Libya, a route through which around 330,000 people have made it to Europe since the start of 2014.
A Government source said Mr Cameron will stress that shutting down of the migration routes between the Turkish coast and Greek islands - where Nato ships are currently operating - could just shift the problem to the western Mediterranean.
The source said Mr Cameron will remind other leaders they "should be thinking and preparing for what happens when we move to Summer in the western Mediterranean route" because that was where the "started to flare last April with the numbers coming across from Libya and north Africa".
Shutting down routes from Turkey could mean that people smugglers "may look at other routes so you may see diversion back into the western Mediterrean". The number of migrants trying to travel from Turkey to Greece has fallen from 18,000 to 11,000 in the past week.
In a letter sent to foreign ministers, obtained by the Politico website, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said the “volatile situation in Libya” raised the possibility that more than 450,000 refugees there “could be potential candidates for migration to Europe.”
The danger of new flows crossing from Libya to Sicily was also addressed by EU interior ministers last week, with German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière saying: "We are in talks with the Italians to avoid at an early stage a similar movement like on the Balkan route."
Received on Thu Mar 17 2016 - 06:42:21 EDT