DHAKA: Former Australia PM Tony Abbott has said Europe should follow Australia and close its borders to migrants fleeing Middle Eastern conflicts.

Abbott made the comments in London, where he was speaking at the second annual Margaret Thatcher lecture, reports the BBC.

He said "misguided altruism" was "leading much of Europe into catastrophic error".

Under Abbott, Australia introduced border controls that stopped migrant boats reaching the country.

'Fundamentally weakening'

Hundreds of thousands of people have now fled conflicts in the Middle East - mostly Syria - and sought asylum in European countries.

The UN says most arrivals are not economic migrants, but people fleeing war and persecution. Most are arriving by boat before walking across Europe.

In his first major speech since being ousted by his party, Abbott said: "No country or continent can open its borders to all comers without fundamentally weakening itself."

He was speaking to an audience of ministers and members of the governing Conservative party at London's Guildhall.

"There are tens - perhaps hundreds - of millions of people, living in poverty and danger who might readily seek to enter a Western country if the opportunity if there," Abbott said.

"Who could blame them? Yet no country or continent can open its borders to all comers without fundamentally weakening itself.

"This is the risk that the countries of Europe now run through misguided altruism," Abbott said, according to a copy of his speech.

BDST: 0834 HRS, OCT 26, 2015
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