EU defence minister calls for NATO troops to ‘defend’ Europe’s borders from migrants exploiting new routes of entry
People smugglers are opening up fresh illegal access points through the Black Sea’s Bulgarian coastline and Spain’s Mediterranean straits
AN EU defence minister has called for NATO troops to “defend” Europe’s borders from migrants exploiting new entry routes.
People smuggling is spiralling across the Black Sea into Romania and Bulgaria, as well as into Spain via its Mediterranean straits, official figures confirmed this week.
The new routes opened up after a squeeze was put on the central Mediterranean passage between Libya and Italy and Greece-Turkey border.
As the EU migration crisis showed no sign of ending, Bulgaria’s defence minister Krasimir Karakachanov said: “We cannot allow illegal immigrants to come to Europe as a whole.
“We should deploy NATO or EU forces and defend the external borders of the European Union by force of arms if necessary”.
He added: “We have not solved the migration issue”.
Bulgaria also tripled the number of its troops stationed on its border with Turkey yesterday to 600.
In the latest sign that the Black Sea route is mushrooming, 69 Iraqi migrants were arrested this week trying to reach the Romanian Black Sea coast, having set off from Turkey in a motorised yacht.
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The number of migrants arriving in Italy through the Central Mediterranean route fell 57% in July compared to the previous month, to 10,160.
But at the same time, Western Med crossings shot up to 2,300 - four times the figure from a year ago.
The UN has also warned that Spain can’t cope with the increasing surge onto its beaches from North Africa.
After 9,300 migrants arrived in Spain so far this year, UNHCR spokeswoman there María Jesús Vega said: “The state isn’t prepared and there aren’t even the resources and the means to deal with the usual flow of people arriving by sea”.
