EU to propose mandatory migrant settlement quotas: report

The executive body of the European Union will propose that countries share responsibility for housing thousands of refugees arriving in Europe from across the Mediterranean. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday will propose a “mandatory migrant quota system” under which the EU’s 28 member states will share responsibility for migrants during times of emergency.

The UK has a proud history of offering asylum to those who need it most, but we do not believe that a mandatory system of resettlement is the answer.

Home office spokesman

The report follows a meeting by EU defence ministers in France to tackle the increasing flow of migrants making the perilous sea crossing from North Africa that has seen 5,000 people die in the last 18 months. The issue would be British Conservative leader David Cameron’s “first battle” of his second term as prime minister, after an election in which over 12 per cent of British people voted for the anti-EU, anti-immigration UK Independence Party. Under pressure from the eurosceptic wing of his own party, Cameron has promised to cut immigration to under 100,000 and re-negotiate the terms of Britain’s membership of the EU, before holding an in-out referendum by 2017.