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British Home Secretary David Blunkett said Friday that he was trying hard to push plans for setting up asylum havens outside EU borders in talks with other EU member countries, but admitted that such plans might not be kicked out until "years away."
He told BBC Radio 4's "Today" program that he was discussing the plans at the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council in Veria, Greece, throughout Friday.
Under the plans, "regional protection zones" would be established near conflict areas to give protection for people fleeing conflict and then help them resettle in their home regions "at the appropriate time", said Blunkett.
In another word, asylum seekers could be deported to special centers outside Europe borders and then was dealt with mainly by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Those found to meet EU refugee criteria would be able to enter the EU, while those who did not would be sent home.
However, Blunkett said these plans were "ideas for the future" and not an "instant policy, something that could be introduced overnight."
"At the moment we have an absurd situation. If we can't send (refugees) back, or can't facilitate them going anywhere, they disappear into our economy," Blunkett told the BBC Radio.
"It will take years before we can actually change the system. That's one of the problems with asylum and immigration. You have an idea and then you have to spend a lot of time trying to get the practicalities sorted."
EU ministers regarded the system as "a fairer deal" to be given to asylum seekers, but some refugee groups had already expressed "grave concerns" about the plans.
These proposals will leave the poorest countries of the world carrying an ever-growing proportion of the world's refugees, the critics said.
No comments are available so far from the UNHCR, which suggested earlier that the ongoing Iraq war could cause more than half a million refugees.
Blunkett also complained that Britain received more claims last year -- topping 110,000 -- than any other EU member states.
However, he insisted that a February commitment by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to halve the number of asylum seekers coming into the country by September was realistic.
"I think it will be met," he told the BBC radio.
"It is a firm commitment. We have a situation where last October we had nearly 9,000 a month coming in. If we get it down to an average of just under 4,500 a month by September, then we will have met that firm commitment," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2003)
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