COPENHAGEN: The prime ministers of Denmark and Italy have called for tougher border controls, warning that the war in the Middle East could trigger an influx of migrants and refugees into the European Union.
Mette Frederiksen and Giorgia Meloni wrote in a joint letter that Europe “cannot risk a repeat” of 2015-2016, when hundreds of thousands of people arrived — many fleeing the civil war in Syria.
The two leaders, who have drastically reduced immigration in their countries, called on the European Commission to adopt a 458-million-euro ($527-million) humanitarian aid package, in part to slow population movements toward the bloc.
“The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is increasingly worrying in a number of domains, spreading in a region already hosting large numbers of displaced people,” the pair wrote in a letter to EU leaders dated Wednesday but obtained by AFP on Thursday.
“We cannot risk a repeat of the refugee and migratory flows to the EU which we saw unfold in 2015-2016.
