Roger Helmer MEP

The Sunday Telegraph carried a story about the extension of the EU’s Schengen free-movement area (travel without passports) to the new Eastern European accession states, with direct borders with countries like Ukraine.  While Britain is not part of Schengen, this means that immigrants from the Former Soviet Union will be able to travel without hindrance from Slovenia to Calais.  They will have little trouble entering across the EU’s porous Eastern borders, and only a little more smuggling themselves into Britain.  The Telegraph story carried a brief quote from me, expressing my concern.
 
My good friend and colleague Joel Anand Samy of the Adriatic Institute in Zagreb shares my worries.  He writes:  “The Balkan mafia groups are gearing up for record Christmas bonuses. You can be assured that the EU’s imprudent approach will increase human trafficking. The shipment of arms and illegal hard drugs will pour into Western Europe as never before. Unfortunately, we have just strengthened Croatia’s organized criminal groups”.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=0VFLGEEJA4BGRQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/12/16/wborder116.xml