EU plans African asylum camps to limit migrants

The European Union has hardened its asylum policy, unveiling plans to set up processing centres in African countries to try to cut off the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean.

Sebastian Kurz, the conservative Austrian chancellor in coalition with the far-right, hailed the change as a victory for anti-immigrant governments who blame the EU’s liberal asylum system for fuelling a migrant influx.

“It seems as if today we will manage a shift in migration policy,” he said. “That’s important because we have asked for a systemic change for years. For years we have demanded reductions in the number of people coming to Europe illegally. I think that is possible today.”

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, warned that the EU’s fate would be decided by how it handled the political crisis over migration. “Europe has many challenges but migration could end up determining Europe’s destiny,” she told the German parliament before boarding a flight to Brussels to attend the EU summit. “The stakes are high.”

In a concession to populist and anti-immigration governments, the summit was expected to agree to begin work on setting up refugee processing centres outside Europe in countries such as Libya, Tunisia and Morocco. Italy, Hungary and other members back setting up centres in Libya but diplomatic sources said that France, Germany and the EU’s diplomatic service had warned that such facilities “would not be humane or compliant with international law”.