Cameron refuses
Mediterranean
migrants

7 July 2015

The recent EU summit held in Brussels descended into chaos after David Cameron refused to accept the UK’s quota of the Mediterranean migrant refugees.

The UK Prime Minister was under pressure from day one at last month’s EU summit to take on a portion of the 150,000 refugee migrants who have arrived on the northern shores of the Mediterranean over the course of 2014.

Leading politicians from Germany, Italy and other EU nations piled on the pressure only to have their demands rebuffed by Mr Cameron.

The president of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker had wanted to introduce a compulsory redistribution scheme under a radical plan which would see European nations receiving respective quotas of migrant refugees to settle on their own terms. Despite Juncker’s best efforts, the idea was met with strong opposition at the summit from many countries and was eventually completely rejected.

Following the rejection of this scheme, however, European leaders did agree to the resettlement of 60,000 migrant refugees on a voluntary basis, representing a significant step in resolving the issue.

According to the Telegraph, Cameron came away from the summit feeling ‘delighted’ with the progress made on negotiations for EU reform, despite some sources stating that his presentation on plans for an EU referendum was received as a ‘commercial break’ whilst leading heads were occupied with the drafting of the legalities for the migrant solution.

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