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French Lawmaker Urges EU to Follow Australia Example to Stop Refugee Influx

© Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Go to the mediabankThierry Mariani
Thierry Mariani - Sputnik International
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The European Union needs to follow Australia's example when dealing with the migrant crisis, which is turning people away while they are still at sea, French National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee member Thierry Mariani told Sputnik Thursday.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for an EU summit at the EU Headquarters in Brussels on June 25, 2015 - Sputnik International
EU Leaders Fail to Cope With Migrant Crisis - Hungarian PM
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova Last week, the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection announced that every attempt by people smugglers to breach Australia’s borders within the last 12 months had failed, resulting in no deaths.

“We need to set records straight, like it did the Australian government, stop encouraging a future migration by not sending undocumented migrants back to their counties of origin,” Mariani, who is also a former French Transport Minister, told Sputnik, explaining that such a position would eventually discourage attempts to smuggle refugees and economic migrants to Europe.

Europe is experiencing a massive migration crisis, and the situation is deteriorating while no practical, unified solution has yet been found by the European Union.

Mariani suggests adopting a new migration policy, similar to the Australian approach, whereby the European Union would assist migrants who met specific criteria to move to specially chosen areas outside the Schengen zone.

“The crisis won’t be solved until the EU to adopt a clear immigration policy” providing for the mandatory clarification of the legitimacy of their presence in the European Union, the French lawmaker concluded.

Mariani's support for the border control initiatives introduced by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott runs counter to the growing criticism from human rights advocates and the international community of Australia's treatment of asylum seekers who wish to apply for refuge in the country. The Australian offshore detention camps on the islands of Manus in Papua New Guinea and Nauru have been criticized by rights groups for their inhumane living conditions.

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