New deals with Balkan countries to target people-smuggling gangs

[Pelican Press 0]

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New deals with Balkan countries to target people-smuggling gangs

The *** will sign new agreements with western Balkan countries to tackle people-smuggling gangs, as part of efforts to bring down small boat crossings.

The deals will increase intelligence sharing and cooperation with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo to intercept and arrest the gangs, with the aim of breaking their business models at source.

The government said the region was a key route used by those who end up in the ********* Union or *** illegally, with almost 100,000 migrants transiting through the western Balkans last year.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will announce the plans at a meeting of the ********* Political Community (EPC) in Hungarian capital Budapest on Thursday.

During the summit, the prime minister will also chair a meeting on migration with ********* leaders and call for action to reduce the number of deaths from people crossing the Channel in small boats.

More than 31,000 people have made the dangerous crossing so far this year – more than the same ******* last year.

The *** already has agreements with countries including Albania and Turkey to share intelligence to disrupt people-smuggling gangs.

Sir Keir said: “There is a ********* empire operating on our continent, exacting a horrendous human toll and undermining our national security.”

He said the *** would be “at the heart of the efforts to end the scourge of organised immigration ******” but “we cannot do it in isolation”.

He added: “We need to go further and faster, alongside our international partners, and take the ****** directly to the heart of these vile people smuggling networks.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Working more closely with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo, we will share information and intelligence, and work across borders to map out what is happening and where, to break the business models of these unscrupulous gangs at source.”

It comes after the government announced an extra £75m funding for the ***’s new Border Security Command, which brings together police, intelligence and immigration enforcement agencies to tackle small boat crossings.

The EPC was set up in 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a way of bringing together ********* heads of government for informal talks and improving cooperation.

The group includes the 27 members of the EU as well as 20 other ********* countries.

As well as ******** migration, the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, economic security and global trade are also among the issues on the agenda.

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