At a meeting of European Union interior ministers in Brussels, 10 member states volunteered to resettle North African refugees while Britain and France refused to resettle a single one.
Indeed, Home Secretary Theresa May said she will oppose any future proposals for Britain to resettle refugees from Libya and Tunisia.
The stance of the British and French is surprising considering their role alongside the United States in leading Nato air strikes against the Gaddafi regime. Especially since Germany, which has refused to be involved in military action, has agreed to resettle a significant number of refugees.
At the meeting, ministers also agreed to radical reforms of the Schengen treaty which allows passport-free travel for 22 EU member states.
These include allowing governments to restore their border controls and a proposal to seek “readmission accords” with North African and Middle East countries so refugees can be returned to their country of origin, although Commission sources say the likelihood of countries agreeing to these “readmission accords” is extremely small.
Claude Moraes, the Labour MEP for London and Socialist group spokesman on Justice and Civil Liberties, described the move as “a politically opportunistic revision of a treaty which has remained intact through major migrant flow upheavals in the past, including refugee flows from the former Yugoslavia”.
The move comes after a diplomatic row between President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi over the status of 20,000 Tunisian refugees.
With Mr Sarkozy fearing strong support for Marine Le Pen’s National Front in next year’s presidential elections, and
Mr Berlusconi trying to appease the anti-immigrant Northern League, his key coalition partners, both talk tough on migration.
However, the plans agreed by ministers need to be backed by the Parliament, which has so far opposed any revisions to the treaty.
With estimates that more than 100,000 refugees will flee Libya in coming months, failure to reach agreement on resettlement and asylum conditions could lead to an epic humanitarian crisis.
