Four out of five migrants are NOT from Syria: EU figures expose the 'lie' that the ma
Four out of five migrants are NOT from Syria: EU figures expose the 'lie' that the majority of refugees are fleeing war zone
- Some 44,000 of the 213,000 refugees who arrived in Europe were from Syria
- A further 27,000 new arrivals on the continent came from Afghanistan
- Britain received one in 30 of all the asylum claims made by new applicants
- David Cameron has offered to take in 20,000 refugees but none from the EU
By IAN DRURY FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 08:44 EST, 18 September 2015
| UPDATED: 13:19 EST 22 September 2015
Only one in every five migrants claiming asylum in Europe is from Syria.
The EU logged 213,000 arrivals in April, May and June but only 44,000 of them were fleeing the Syrian civil war.
Campaigners and left-wing MPs have suggested the vast majority of migrants are from the war-torn state, accusing the Government of doing too little to help them.
'This exposes the lie peddled in some quarters that vast numbers of those reaching Europe are from Syria,' said David Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth. 'Most people who are escaping the war will go to camps in Lebanon or Jordan.
'Many of those who have opted to risk their lives to come to Europe have done so for economic reasons.'
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Hungary has announced plans to build a giant fence along the Croatian border - just days after sealing off access from Serbia with a 100 mile razor-wire barrier (pictured)
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One man lifts a crying baby as he waits to board a bus heading for a reception centre for migrants in Croatia's capital of Zagreb
Sir Bill Cash, a fellow Tory, said: 'These figures make extremely disturbing reading. The whole argument has been made that this influx is all real refugees from Syria whereas this adds to the substantial evidence that there are a large number of economic migrants who are aiming for a better life.'
The figures from Eurostat, the EU's official statistical agency, show that migration from April to June was running at double the level of the same period in 2014.
The number of Afghans lodging asylum claims is up four-fold, from 6,300 to 27,000. Another 17,700 claims were made by Albanians, whose country is at peace.
A further 13,900 applicants came from Iraq which, like Syria, is being torn apart by the Islamic State terror group.
This exposes the lie peddled in some quarters that vast numbers of those reaching Europe are from Syria.
David Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth
Half a million migrants have arrived in Europe so far this year, with 156,000 coming in August alone. Rather than claiming asylum in the first safe EU country they reach, most head on toward wealthy northern states. The human cost of the crisis has been paid by the estimated 3,000 migrants who have drowned after putting their lives in the hands of people smugglers for the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean.
Risks being taken by many families were highlighted by the deaths of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi and his brother Galip, five, whose bodies were washed up on the tourist beach of Bodrum in Turkey earlier this month.
More than 250,000 migrants have reached Greece and Italy, where the authorities are close to breaking point.
Exclusive drone footage captures chaos on Serbian border
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Struggling to cope: Croatia's Prime Minister said today that his country will redirect migrants to Hungary and Slovenia
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Police officers watch on as migrants sit on the windows of a train at a railway station near the Slovenian-Croatian border in Dobova, Brezice
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Refugees are making increasingly desperate attempts to cross Europe. A group of migrants are pictured trying to cross the river Sutla near Senkovec, Croatia on their way to Slovenia
German Chancellor Angela Merkel fuelled the chaos last month by declaring that any Syrian who reached the country could claim asylum.
When the numbers became uncontrollable Berlin shut its borders, throwing Austria, Hungary and other EU countries into turmoil.
Croatia has received 14,000 migrants in the past two days and was last night moving some to the Hungarian border.
Hungary is laying razor wire on the border having done the same on its border with Serbia.
Croatia has closed seven of eight road crossings to Serbia and ordered its border guards to redirect migrants to Hungary and Slovenia. The Hungarian government described this as 'totally unacceptable'.
Violence broke out yesterday between Syrian and Afghan migrants fighting to board trains across Croatia.
And Slovenian riot police last night stood in the path of 200 migrants trying to enter from Croatia. Slovenian ministers say they will accept asylum seekers but send back anyone deemed to be an illegal immigrant.
Britain, which received 7,470 asylum applications between April and June, has come under fire for failing to join an EU scheme to spread 160,000 migrants between the 28 member states.
Migrants in Serbia hit by tear gas and water cannon
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A man uses crutches as he joins other migrants crossing the border between Greece and Macedonia near the city of Gevgelija, Macedonia
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Refugees sit under a bridge at the border between Austria and Germany, in Freilassing, southern Germany this morning
GERMANY COULD SPEND UP TO 25 BILLION ON MIGRANT INTAKE
Germany's lead in housing hundreds of thousands of migrants heading to Europe from a war-torn Middle East could cost its Treasury tens of billions of euros over the next two years, according to early private estimates.
The Japanese investment bank Mizuho was one of the first to put a number on it on yesterday, saying that accepting up to one million refugees a year over the next two years could cost Berlin 25 billion euros.
That is derived from a basic calculation of 12,500 per migrant, according to Peter Chatwell, senior rates strategist at Mizuho. Part of the extra spending may have to be met by extra borrowing.
Over half a dozen banks contacted by Reuters broadly agreed with Mizuho's calculations.
David Cameron has announced the UK will shelter 20,000 vulnerable Syrians from camps in Lebanon and Jordan. But he rejected calls to take migrants already in Europe, saying this would encourage more to make the dangerous journey.
Yvette Cooper, who chairs Labour's refugee taskforce, said: 'Britain's approach of only planning to take refugees from the camps in Syria isn't working.
'It ignores the crisis also happening in Europe itself and means Britain has no leverage to get other countries to sign up to help.'
But a Home Office spokesman said: 'Claiming asylum must not be viewed as an easy means of settlement by those who are not actually refugees.
'We need systems which keep out unfounded claims so we can all respond more quickly and effectively to those genuinely in need of refuge.
'That is why the UK is focused on resettling genuine Syrian refugees directly from the region. This will ensure we are taking in the most vulnerable people and deter people from attempting the perilously journeys which have already led to so many tragic deaths.'
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DAILY MAIL COMMENT
TO listen to the BBC, you might believe that every one of the hundreds of thousands of migrants clamouring to get into the EU was a Syrian refugee fleeing the horror of Islamic State or tyrannical president Bashar al-Assad.
But new Eurostat figures show the truth: 80 per cent are from as far afield as Pakistan, Nigeria and Albania - many of them economic migrants simply looking for a better life.
The Mail does not underestimate the agony and desperation of genuine Syrian asylum seekers who, of course, deserve care and compassion. Thats why David Cameron was right to ensure that those granted refuge in Britain come from camps on the Syrian border, rather than from among those already in Europe who may not be Syrian.
But Germany by first extending a welcome to all migrants, then slamming its borders shut when overwhelming numbers responded to the invitation has created chaos for all its neighbours, where untold numbers are now stranded.
Through her naive and muddled policy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has placed the very future of the EU in jeopardy.
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