BBC在线收听下载:奥巴马与国会领导人商讨政府关门事宜

BBC news 2013-10-15

BBC News with Jonathan Izard

The European Commission has released figures rejecting claims that migrants within Europe are draining their host countries’ resources by avoiding work and claiming social benefits. With the details, here’s Paul Henley.

The commission says European migrants without work make up less than 1% of the EU’s population. It also says that while overall migration has increased over the last decade, the proportion of migrants without work has decreased despite big rises in unemployment rates in host countries. Its figure suggests that most migrants not working are students, pensioners or caring for children, and that the majority share a house with at least one person in work. The report’s conclusion is that inter-EU migrants pay significantly more in taxes than they get in benefits and services.

A spokesman for the British prime minister has insisted there is widespread and understandable concern about what his government calls benefit tourism. He said the UK government was working with other EU countries to stop migrants arriving specifically to get social welfare payments. Some British newspapers today claimed there are as many as 600,000 unemployed foreign European citizens in the UK, a figure the European Commission says is quite simply wholly wrong.

President Obama is to meet Congressional leaders at the White House for more talks aimed at ending the partial government shutdown currently in its 14th day. A statement from the White House said a planned meeting has now been postponed to allow the Senate more time to negotiate. Aides to the leaders of both parties have told the BBC they are no closer to a deal, but speaking earlier in the day, Mr Obama struck a more positive note.

“There’s been some progress on the Senate side with Republicans recognising it’s not tenable, it’s not smart, it’s not good for the American people to let America default. There’s been some progress in recognising that we are not going to be able to completely bridge the differences between the parties all at once, and so it doesn’t make sense in the meantime to try to use a shutdown or the…