EU six agree to fight terrorism and illegal immigration

POLAND and the other 5 largest EU countries have agreed to work together on fighting terrorism, organised crime and illegal immigration after a two-day informal meeting hosted by the UK.

The interior ministers of France, Germany, Italy, POLAND, Spain and the UK – known as the G6 - met in Stratford-upon-Avon and agreed to crack down on tax fraud that could fund terrorism, to fight human trafficking, share more information about terrorist threats and make joint moves toward African countries to curb illegal migration routes.

"The important thing is to keep this at the top of the European agenda, because it is at the top of the concerns of the populations of every country which is represented here: organised crime, counter-terrorism, managed migration," UK home secretary John Reid said after the meeting, according to Reuters.

The ministers were also concerned about alienation of European Muslims and sought to engage Muslim minorities in the fight against extremism, seeking to counter anger at what they see as unfair treatment by the authorities.

The fears were highlighted by the overnight violence in the suburbs of Paris, where youths - many from immigrant families - set four buses on fire ahead of the one-year anniversary of major riots across France.