Plans for more cooperation between EU states on immigration and fighting crime will be debated by MPs.

The government insists that the UK will only sign up to the measures it wants and does argue that greater cooperation can bring benefits.

Do you think this proposed increase in cooperation could be beneficial? Or do you feel it will be a disadvantage? Send us your views using the postform.

This debate is now closed. Thank you for your comments.

Your comments:

I've been working with refugees for over 3 years now, first in the administration (taking decisions in applications) then as care worker in a refugee centre. Every one should spent a week in one of those centres and listen to those people before making any judgment or statement in this difficult issue. If we would just close the European borders, we'd be a bunch of selfish people because there is a lot of misery. On the other hand, I do recognise it's impossible to let everybody in. Let professionals work out a humane asylum policy for Europe.
Leen, Ghent, Belgium

All the EU countries will sign up to a document, but only Britain will actually stick to what it says. Most of the other EU countries have a sense of what is right for them, so ignore any rules they don't like (eg France and illegal beef bans). Britain, however, will slavishly dot every i and cross every t, and we will end up getting the raw end of the deal as usual.
Chris, Berkshire, UK

Refusals must mean return, not the opportunity to wander around Europe Tony, Welling Kent

Asylum should work in only one way. Application must be made in the first safe country arrived in and should be considered there. Refusals must mean return, not the opportunity to wander around Europe claiming all over the place. the Other European countries must not deport refusals to another European country after refusal. this will mean that all the European laws will have to be harmonised wether we like it or not.
Tony, Welling Kent

This proposal to increase cooperation between EU members will only work if:
1) A pan-European border police force is established that can coordinate where resources need to be deployed
2) The states that are situated on the geographical fringes of the Union, (e.g. Greece in the south-east, the UK in the north-west) tighten up their border controls and meticulously check every suspicious looking vehicle that passes into the countries.
This solution may be resource intensive, however it is the only one that I see that has the possibility of being successful.
Daniel Curwood, Annesley Woodhouse, UK

The absurdity is that individual countries like Spain are taking decisions on immigration, decisions that affect the whole of the European Union without consulting the rest of the European Union and we - Britain - as a member country - have no say in the matter. If individual countries were forced to take full social, political and economical responsibility for those they allow to enter, their national policies on immigration would be quite different. As an example, if Spain allows them in then Spain should give them jobs and social welfare, not Britain. Why should we be forced to pay for somebody else decisions?
Carlos Cortiglia, London, United Kingdom

It is nothing to do with urope who we let into this country. People would not accept the US telling us who we should or should not allow to come here. Britain must decide what is right for Britain and France should decide what is right for france and so on!
Andrew Percy, Hull, UK

Exactly who are they seeking asylum from? Anon, Peterborough Cambridgeshire

Why are these Asylum Seekers still in this country? Exactly who are they seeking asylum from? The European wars have ended years ago and surely Iraq is a safe place to go now what with the removal of Saddam. I live in Peterborough and we have problems. Many thousands of asylum seekers have been foisted onto the city. Believe me when I say it won't be long before it gets out of hand. We can't treat them like prisoners but at the same time once they have no need for asylum surely it should be time for them to be sent home to rebuild their own countries.
Anon, Peterborough Cambridgeshire

Ben Drake of York, I wholeheartedly agree with everything you have said. We should be ashamed of following the xenophobic elements of the red top newspapers.
Linda Callcut, Ely

There are genuine people who need asylum and there are others who will take advantage of a new start in life. As good citizens of the world, we should render assistance where asistance is most needed. The British people should have the right to vote "Yes" or "No" on being 100% European or 100% out of European politics. There will be a Superstate of Europe have no doubt about that, it is just a matter of time. What the British people need to decide upon is, do they want to be a part of a Superstate or not. A word of caution in that regard, if you think British politicians are untrustworthy, just wait till Britain is "Ruled" by Scallywags from the rest of Europe.
Dave, Rudyard, England

Britian needs to close her borders. The government cannot financially sustain Britains own people let alone every waif and stray from Europe. We have old people who struggle every year to pay their heating bills, homeless people by the thousands and children who are being beaten and raped by family members, the goverment should divert the funds used for asylum seekers to home based problems. Let other countries feed, clothe and house the asylum seekers then let those countries decide if open borders are a good idea.
George, Texas, Ex-Pat

How can working together possibly be wrong Andrew Moore, Wednesbury, England

How can working together possibly be wrong. I'm just amazed to find out that we aren't doing it already. No wonder organised crime is running rings around us.
Andrew Moore, Wednesbury, England

It is essential that all EU countries hammer out a common policy, acceptable to all signatories and enforceable by them. It is quite unacceptable for the UK to opt out of any clauses it doesn't like. This is a EU problem, therefore, it should me met by a full and appropriate EU response.
Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, The Netherlands

Judging by the number of migrants who express a preference for the UK, and the number of television programmes and magazines directed at Britons who want to up stumps and move abroad, there seems to be quite an international game of musical chairs going on. Where this will leave us all when the music stops is anyone's guess.
Michael Bettney, Nottingham, UK

We should adopt the New Zealand and Australian policy of professional immigration...It works well in those countries....It would work well here..
Chris, Braintree Essex UK

Let's be sensible about this and sort the problem out once and for all. It doesn't matter how much the 'do-gooders shout and demand that all and sundry can come into the UK and are welcome, the hard fact is we don't have the money to solve all the world's problems, much less the physical space in this country. There is already so much tension and bad feeling and this is created by fear of being overwhelmed. Let's get a grip on this while we still can.
Barbara, UK

The way some politicians and media talk about refugees and asylum seekers is disgraceful. These are ordinary people like us, fleeing from war or persecution. We should treat them as we'd like to be treated in their shoes, with respect and dignity. Instead we shun them like monsters, lock them up and deport them, even families with children. Those of us who think this is cruel and wrong need to make our voices heard.
Ben Drake, York, UK

Ben Drake of York - the problm is that it is ONLY people like you who get through to politicians. The rest of us are labelled racist and fascist for having the temerity to use our democratic right of free speech to offer an alternative view. You and your views are leading to a situation in which the far right is more likely than ever to gain influence. Think about it before bleating on in this way.
Tom, London

This is a European problem and it needs a European solution Phill, Manchester

As the girlfriend of an asylum seeker who is currently in a detention centre I would like to say just two things. Firstly, I agree that our system in Britain needs to change because we can not keep people hanging on languishing in what are basically prisons for years and secondly, as some other respondents have said, this is a European problem and it needs a European solution.
Phill, Manchester

All people that I meet and talk to are against this government's and the EU's open end immigration policies. We do not need or,I f we are honest, want thousands of immigrants legal or otherwise pouring into the country each and ever year. Having once been very pro Europe, I am now so disillusioned that I would vote for a party that offered a way out.
Michael McIver, Hastings,UK

Why is it whenever asylum is mentioned you are either xenophobic or racist. Why can't one be adult enough to state that Britain should have its own borders with stricter controls and be allowed to deport those who have come through another country to reach us.
Carole, UK

The UK needs to decide, once and for all, if it wants to be part of the European state that is developing. If it does then it should surrender its vetoes with the other European countries, if it doesn't then it should drop the pretence. I don't mind either way, but can we please decide.
Richard Read, London, UK

Solutions can only be found when we work together Stephen Law, Stratford upon Avon, England

There is no case to argue against these proposals. This is a European, indeed actually a world problem. As we have seen in the European context solutions can only be found when we work together. I really fear how far the xenophobic right and its newspapers have hijacked the political ground over our relations within the EU. It is wrong and dangerous, and it will further expose the UK as the whinger of Europe. What is the fear?
Stephen Law, Stratford upon Avon, England

Despite Stephen Law's comments, I am far from being right wing, but I don't trust the EU to administer anything, and certainly not this! Having just read about the sacking of the EU accountant for telling the truth about internal corruption within the Commission, why should anyone trust it?
Malcolm, England

There should be no European-wide policy. Britain should control British borders, and other countries their own. Asylum seekers coming through France should be sent back, as France is "safe". EU policy will no doubt try to soften this by treating us all as one country, which we're not.
Russ, London, UK

There cannot be just one policy for the whole of the EU. If the majority of migrants decide to head for Britain for example the rest of the EU might well feel content with such an outcome, but what would we feel?
Bernard, Norwich, UK

Can we, the British Public, have a say in this matter by having a referendum. I do not know anyone who agrees with what is happening. I do not want any further lowering of the few rights we have as a Nation.
JCL, Hemel Hempstead

Judging from previous Labour policy on immigration and asylum, they seem content to have a lax system. At least the Conservatives, I believe, would seal our borders and put in common-sense measures. As for the EU, who could trust it on anything?
A Howlett, Manchester, England

Although I am not in favour of an EU political state, I think this initiative will be helpful since because of our porous borders, especially in the continent. This will help the central EU command and subsequently individual states to monitor these processes. However this needs careful planning and should be applied across the EU member states. I fear some states might choose to exercise rigidity and inhumane approach than other states.
Prabhat, UK

If I know the EU it will probably designate the UK as a holding area for immigrants until they are processed and we will smile and say oh ok then.
John, Lincs, UK

I'm all for it, whatever happens, it has to be an improvement on the useless immigration system we have at the moment in this country.
Mark Gillespie, Weymouth, UK