The European Union (EU) is to open asylum processing centres in West Africa and countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean because the continent “need[s] six million migrants”, Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos has said.

Speaking in Geneva last week, the Greek Eurocrat denied terror attacks are linked to migration and warned the “biggest threat” to Europe is “the rise of populism, nationalism and xenophobia”.

Declaring “the 27 [member states] will need 6 million immigrants in the future”, Avramopoulos explained the Commission is going to open reception centres to recruit migrants, because an open borders approach would fuel populism.

“We will open offices in all countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean and in West Africa. This is the best way to fight smugglers.”

“Obviously, we are not going to just open the borders and let everybody in. This would be absurd and would only feed xenophobia, nationalism, and populism. Having said that, we must protect the persecuted and treat everyone with dignity,” he said.

The former Athens mayor argued that “terrorism is not synonymous of [sic] migration”, stating: “As for the terrorist attacks in the EU, they were committed by European citizens. With one exception, it was never the case of refugees.”

He stressed the solution to terror attacks lies not in strengthening national borders but in closer cooperation between EU nations, insisting that “Europe needs common policies on security, migration and the economy”.

“Our efforts to make the EU and the world a safer place must never come at the expense of our own openness,” Avramopoulos added.

Earlier in March, Breitbart London reported the EU’s Ambassador to Nigeria Michel Arrion said an “ageing population” in Europe means the continent needs to open up legal channels for Africans to migrate.

At a time when experts warn millions of jobs are at risk of being lost to robots, new research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found nothing to support assertions that ageing societies pose problems for the economy.

“There is no evidence of a negative relationship between ageing and GDP per capita,” academics wrote in a paper entitled ‘Secular Stagnation? The Effect of Aging on Economic Growth in the Age of Automation’.

“On the contrary, the relationship is significantly positive in many specifications,” the paper continues.