African migrants ‘threaten EU’s living standards’

LONDON: Migrants from Africa threaten the European Union’s living standards and its social structure, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Sunday, saying the bloc was unable to take in millions of people seeking a new life.
Hammond, speaking while visiting Singapore, was talking about efforts by people fleeing instability in the Middle East and Africa to resettle inside the EU, some of whom try to reach Britain via the Channel Tunnel from France.
“We have got to be able to resolve this problem ultimately by being able to return those who are not entitled to claim asylum back to their countries of origin,” Hammond told BBC TV.
But EU laws meant migrants were “pretty confident” they would never be returned to their country of origin, he said.
“That is not a sustainable situation because Europe can’t protect itself and preserve its standard of living and social structure, if it has to absorb millions of migrants from Africa,” said Hammond.
Meanwhile, police said on Sunday 18 migrants have been found stowing away in a lorry on a British motorway.
The migrants were found after the lorry was stopped Saturday by police on the M1 near Flamstead, north of London, 111 miles (178 kilometers) northwest of Folkestone, where Britain’s Eurotunnel cross-Channel terminal is located. The driver of the truck, a 40-year-old man from Poland, has been arrested on suspicion of assisting people entering the country unlawfully.
Officers were alerted by a member of the public who reported seeing suspicious activity on the lorry, Hertfordshire Police said.
“Eighteen people who are believed to have entered the UK illegally on the lorry were taken into custody for their safety,” they added in a statement.
Traffic police tweeted a picture of the migrants sitting on the ground next to a parked lorry loaded with cargo, apparently at a motorway service station. A spike in the number of migrants trying to cross the Channel Tunnel from France to Britain has pushed the issue to the top of the political agenda.