Europe should take Channel-crossing asylum seekers, says migration expert

Asylum seekers reaching the UK across the English Channel should be taken in by a group of EU countries, a leading migration expert has said.

Gerald Knaus, the Austrian-born co-founder of the Berlin-based European Stability Initiative, is best known as the architect of the 2016 EU-Turkey refugee agreement.

He has now claimed that the EU should absorb asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats, and he said this would end up destroying the way smugglers operate.

In an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, he said: “A group of EU countries should take in every asylum seeker who reaches the UK across the English Channel from a certain date.

“In return, the UK would take a set number of asylum seekers or refugees from these EU countries for four years – for example 10,000 people per year. Anyone from the EU who wants to go there can apply.”

“Anyone who gets on a rubber dinghy is sent back. In one fell swoop, there would no longer be any incentive to cross the English Channel. The business model of the smugglers would be gone immediately.”

‘Chance to regain control’

Mr Kanus argued the current focus on fighting smugglers is ineffective, advocating for a strategy that combines tighter borders with legal pathways, similar to Canada’s approach, to ensure humane border control.

He revealed that he has already held many unofficial discussions with Labour on this theme.

“There were a lot of unofficial talks, but there was a certain openness. Starmer has the chance to regain control,” he said. “And he can prove that this is of course possible without withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights, as some Conservatives are loudly demanding.”

“The most important question for the British, however, is whether European countries can be found to join in.”

As part of his proposal, Mr Knaus said Germany should lead this EU initiative, alongside Denmark and Spain, with Austria potentially joining in later.

If Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, adopts the plan it could end up proving a “role model” scheme, which would not just help the UK and the EU as a whole, but Germany as well, he added