We have lost control of borders, says EU chief: Warning hours before summit comes as Britain faces £150m bill to support other nations despite not taking part in resettlement programme 

  • Britain faces £150million bill to fund EU scheme to deal with migrant crisis
  • Jean-Claude Juncker told countries: 'put their money where your mouth is'
  • Demand made despite Britain saying it does not want to be part of scheme 
  • It came as the EU Council president said refugees 'feel invited' to Europe
  • Donald Tusk said EU at 'critical point' and needs to regain border control 

Britain faces the prospect of having to pay more than £150million to fund a controversial EU scheme to deal with the migrant crisis on the continent, it was revealed last night.

Announcing that the EU is to spend an extra £1.25billion on emergency support to European countries, EU police officers and humanitarian aid, Jean-Claude Juncker told countries including Britain it was time to 'put their money where your mouth is'.

The demand was made despite Britain's repeated insistence that it does not want to be part of the resettlement programme. 

It followed a warning last night that millions more refugees will flood into Europe because the EU has lost control of its borders, according to one of its most senior officials.

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'They feel invited': EU Council president Donald Tusk warned that millions are likely to be heading to Europe

'They feel invited': EU Council president Donald Tusk warned that millions are likely to be heading to Europe

European Council president Donald Tusk said almost all of the 12million Syrians who have left their homes because of the war in their country ‘feel invited to Europe’. 

An analysis by the think-tank Open Europe came up with the estimated amount the UK would be expected to contribute, according to the Daily Telegraph.

However, Downing Street sources told the newspaper that the EU budget should not require extra funding if the current contributions are used efficiently. 

European leaders have been holding crisis talks about how to deal with the arrival of thousands more migrants on the continent. 

News of the demand for extra funds surfaced less than 24 hours after EU interior ministers approved a divisive scheme to relocate 120,000 refugees from Italy, Greece and Hungary. 

The new EU quota system has proved controversial as Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic voted against it, while Finland abstained, and concerns have been raised about the lack of unanimous support among the 28 member states.

Britain is not required to take part in the scheme as it is not part of the Schengen 'borderless' area and Home Secretary Theresa May reaffirmed her opposition to it ahead of the vote. 

The UK has given £1billion in aid - more than any other EU nation - to countries neighbouring Syria that have taken in millions of refugees.

Hours before the vote the first of the 20,000 Syrian refugees to be accepted into the Government's expanded resettlement programme arrived in Britain. 

Meanwhile, speaking before an emergency summit in Brussels last night, Mr Tusk warned the EU had ‘reached a critical point’ and needed to take urgent action ‘to regain control of our external borders’.

Migrant flood: Dozens of migrants hoping to settle in Europe are shown crossing from Croatia to Hungary

Migrant flood: Dozens of migrants hoping to settle in Europe are shown crossing from Croatia to Hungary

Fraught: Vast crowds of migrants are shown above hoping to cross into Hungary. Tusk has warned that millions will head for Europe

Fraught: Vast crowds of migrants are shown above hoping to cross into Hungary. Tusk has warned that millions will head for Europe

He said the conflict in Syria ‘will not end any time soon’, adding that there are already eight million displaced people in the country and four million in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

‘This means that today we are talking about millions of potential refugees trying to reach Europe, not thousands,’ he said.

Mr Tusk warned it is likely more will flow across the borders, ‘especially since almost all of them feel invited to Europe’.

His warning came as EU officials said they would use their budget ‘to the maximum’ to deal with the crisis, raising the prospect of Britain having to fork out tens of millions more in contributions.

Teams of guards will also be deployed to Greece and Italy – principal entry points for migrants heading to Europe – in an attempt to persuade countries in the EU’s border-free Schengen zone to remove recently reintroduced check points.

Cheque book out: David Cameron pledged £100million to support refugees in camps, which he hopes will stop them coming to Europe

Cheque book out: David Cameron pledged £100million to support refugees in camps, which he hopes will stop them coming to Europe

France and Germany have pushed through an EU quota system – despite protests from some eastern European countries – to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers currently in Greece, Italy and Hungary.

Britain is not part of the scheme but is accepting 20,000 refugees from camps in countries bordering Syria in the next five years.

David Cameron also pledged last night that the UK would boost its aid by £100million to support refugees in camps so they are less likely to come to Europe.

FOREIGN SECRETARY: WHY EUROPE 'MUST CUT ITS BUDGET'

The European Union must slash its own budget to understand the financial strain its members are under, the Foreign Secretary demanded last night.

Philip Hammond said the EU needs to tighten its belt and cut waste as Britain conducts a renegotiation of its membership.

Demands: Philip Hammond

Demands: Philip Hammond

Visiting Brussels for talks with EU officials, he added: ‘The Prime Minister and the Chancellor have a pretty clear view that at a time when most member states are having to make very difficult decisions about cutting their own public sector budgets and driving efficiencies through their own systems, it is simply not acceptable ... [to] simply go on doing things in the old way.

‘We expect to see the EU reflecting the pain its member states are going through.’

‘We must make sure people in refugee camps are properly fed and looked after, not least to help them but also to stop people wanting to make or thinking of making this very, very difficult and very dangerous journey to Europe,’ he said as he arrived at the emergency summit.

‘We need to do more to stabilise the countries and regions from which these people are coming.’

Relations between EU leaders remained acrimonious as the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, pledged to resist what he called German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ‘moral imperialism’. 

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told countries to ‘put your money where your mouth is [to] combat this crisis’.

He said the EU would spend an extra £1billion, including help for affected countries such as Turkey, more cash for Frontex and Europol, the border force and law enforcement agencies, and £300million in humanitarian aid.

Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commission’s budget chief, said the EU would be ‘budgeting up to the margin and using the emergency aid reserves to the maximum’.

She added: ‘We’re staying within the EU budget ceiling but doing everything we can to redirect funds to help those seeking refuge in Europe.’

The EU had been on course to spend below its budget ceiling, but if this changes, Britain will have to hand over more money.

The ceiling for 2015 is €142billion (£104billion), but ministers have agreed to spend €141billion (£103billion), leaving €1billion (£733million) that could potentially be used.

Britain contributes between 10 and 15 per cent of the EU budget, so could end up having to pay up to £110million more than at present.

Mr Cameron said the UK would help fund a shortfall in funding for the World Food Programme after other countries reduced their contributions by up to 99 per cent.

Britain’s aid to Syrian refugees now totals £1.1billion, the highest amount in the world after the US.

The commission is planning to increase the number of rapid border intervention teams to provide guard support in ‘cases of urgent or exceptional migratory pressure’.

Mr Juncker said it was a priority to restore free movement in the Schengen zone after some countries – including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Hungary – reintroduced border controls in an attempt to deal with the crisis. 

 

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