Timothy Welcomes New Moves to Strengthen Borders
Brussels -- Friday 5th August, 2011
Today I welcomed an announcement that more money will be spent to secure Europe's borders against criminals and illegal immigration.
The European Commission said a total of €370 million will be made available to member states in 2012 to spend on border management and visa policy. It means a boost of 35% in the cash available to counties for measures to halt the flow of illegal migrants, compared with this year.
Although Britain is not part of the Schengen Agreement, which allows free movement across most borders within the EU, there are concerns that security at Europe's external borders has often proved inadequate.
As spokesman on Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament, I said:
"Despite not being part of the Schengen zone, we welcome these monies being used to tighten up the border controls of the EU itself.
"There remains a great need to protect borders, especially to tackle criminality, terrorism, illegal immigration, and people-trafficking."
A Commission statement said the extra money would be allocated where it was most needed in the light of "migratory pressures". The biggest increases will go to countries which have seen a sudden increase in would-be immigrants because of the turmoil of the Arab Spring.
Italy will see its allocation boosted from €32 million in 2011 to €52 million in 2012. Malta, Cyprus, Spain, Greece and France will also benefit from a substantial increase in funding.
