GETTY/EUISS An EU adviser has said the only way to beat smuggling gangs is to let everyone into Europe

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Brussels bureaucrats were told that they cannot beat the human traffickers and that the only way to stop their vile trade is to open the floodgates to an unlimited number of migrants. In a stunning admission of incompetence Brussels pen-pushers said opportunistic rabbles of migrant traffickers operating out of Middle Eastern hideouts have outwitted their own £200,000-a-year borders boss.

They also risked angering citizens of nations across Europe by revealing that border officials "haven't been looking very hard" to close down new routes which criminal gangs could use to smuggle migrants into the continent. Critics said the shocking admissions prove the EU is "one step behind" the migrant smugglers despite employing some of the best paid security experts in the world.

EPA Roderick Parkes admitted people smugglers are 'smarter' than Brussels bureaucrats

GETTY Once inside the EU, migrants are free to travel to Calais where they try to reach Britain

They were made by senior security analyst Roderick Parkes, who told a stunned meeting of the EU parliament's Security and Defence sub-committee that the only way to tackle people smuggling was for Europe to more openly welcome in migrants. He told MEPs that the only way to reduce demand for people traffickers is to make sure migrants arriving in Greece and Italy "trust" the authorities to "get them to the right member state". Such a policy would raise the possibility of wealthy northern European countries including Germany, France and Holland being forced to take in the lion's share of the new arrivals.

Migrant crisis explained in numbers Fri, July 22, 2016 A monthly record of 218,394 migrants and refugees reached Europe by sea in October, the UN says, almost as many as the total number of arrivals in 2014. We take a look at the shocking statistics facing the humanitarian crisis. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 47 137 migrants of African origins were rescued by coast guard boats off the coast of Libya

Mr Parkes, whose position has an advertised £65,000-a-year-salary, also openly admitted that gangs of petty criminals had proved "smarter" than his own colleagues. He told the meeting that the Black Sea could become the next major smuggling route for migrants, adding that there have been "one or two ships coming in via that route", but then admitting: "We haven't been looking very hard." But his remarks were savaged by UKIP MEP Mike Hookem, who said they demonstrated a "dangerous naivety" among Europe's elite about the dangers of open borders. They come despite the fact that the EU's head of security, Italian politician Federica Mogherini, is paid an eye-watering £200,000 a year to keep the continent's borders secure.

Mike Hookem MEP UKIP's Mike Hookem said the remarks demonstrated a 'dangerous naivety'

GETTY More than a million migrants have made it to Europe this year alone

We should be one step ahead but that's just not happening UKIP's Mike Hookem

Mr Hookem said: "It is not the job of the EU to offer residency to anyone from around the world who asks for it. "They've only just started saying that they are going to put more into border controls when these borders should have been strengthened long before now. "I do believe the people traffickers have been one step ahead of them all the time and they are only now doing something about it because the situation is getting so bad. "There's only one answer to this and that's they have to start turning people back at the Mediterranean - bringing people in on the scale they are doing is wrong.

He added: "The system they've got now just isn't working and all we're seeing from Brussels is more of the same. We're going to bring more people in and house them but that's just encouraging others. "I'm quite certain that a small minority of them are ISIS fighters who are coming in and that's worrying. "Some of these criminals are smart people and they will look for for any ways they can get into Europe. We should be one step ahead and be looking for their next routes in so we can close them down early, but that's just not happening."