Protecting borders from illegal migrants a top priority, Sunak tells Europe

Protecting borders against illegal migration must be Europe’s top priority, Rishi Sunak has told European leaders.

Speaking ahead of a summit, the Prime Minister warned there was an “unprecedented” threat to the Continent’s borders from organised immigration crime, with a 64 per cent increase in migrant crossings into the European Union in the past year.

He announced a new deal with Bulgaria to stamp out criminal gangs using the country as a route to smuggle migrants from Asia and the Middle East into Western Europe and the UK.

Mr Sunak also said that negotiations were starting with Moldova for a new agreement to allow the return of migrants and foreign criminals to the eastern European state.

He also confirmed that a similar deal with Georgia has come into force. This followed returns agreements with Albania, Serbia, India, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Mr Sunak spoke ahead of a meeting in Moldova of the European Political Community, a group of nearly 50 countries featuring EU and non-EU member states from the Continent.

He said: “Europe is facing unprecedented threats at our borders. From [Vladimir] Putin’s utter contempt of other countries’ sovereignty to the rise in organised immigration crime across our continent.

“We cannot address these problems without Europe’s governments and institutions working closely together. In every meeting, every summit, every international gathering like this, the security of our borders must be top of the agenda.

“The UK will be at the heart of this international effort to stop the boats and defend our national security.”

This was part of an attempt to tackle migration upstream as Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, mounted a five-day tour of North Africa and Europe to boost co-operation with other countries including Italy, Algeria and Tunisia.

Bulgaria, which sits at the crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean and western Balkans migration routes, has already seen a 40 per cent increase this year in the number of illegal migrants caught attempting to enter from Turkey – 11,000.

The country has become a key transit point for migrants going on to use small boats to reach Britain. The number of Afghans crossing the Channel more than tripled to 8,429 in the year to March.

Bulgaria is also being used to bring in small boats and engines from Turkey to northern France for the crossings.

The new partnership announced by Mr Sunak aims to boost intelligence sharing and police co-operation to help Bulgaria “destroy the business model” of people smuggling gangs “who profit from human misery”, according to Number 10.

In April, a joint operation with Bulgaria resulted in the Metropolitan Police arresting six people trafficking women into the UK. They also disrupted an organised crime group trafficking money back to Turkey from the UK hidden in lorries.

The deals with Moldova and Georgia followed similar agreements with Albania, to which the UK has returned 1,000 illegal migrants since November. Although there have only been 17 illegal entries from Moldovans since 2018, there have been 2,046 from Georgia.

However, ministers have yet to negotiate deals with any major EU nations to allow the return of migrants who have passed through their countries before reaching the UK.

Figures last week showed just 23 migrants out of up to 22,000 whose claims were deemed inadmissible, because they entered the UK after passing through a safe third country in Europe, had been returned since 2021.

Mr Sunak will point to the “devastating humanitarian impact” of  illegal migration, and call for all countries to get to grips with the problem in a “lawful and compassionate” way, Downing Street said.

He will use a meeting with Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, to discuss the potential for the nations to work together to “keep up the momentum of international action”.

He will also emphasise the importance of clamping down on criminal gangs at a round table event with Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland, while stressing the need to support both Moldova and neighbouring Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.