The CEO of Unilever, Paul Polman has revealed that the company’s attempt to offer work to refugees was thwarted by political opposition in the UK, according to a report published by Aol.

Polman said that the skills shortage currently being experienced in Europe due to the falling population could be addressed by offering work to those living in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

“We could easily put companies together in Europe to close that camp and give these 15,000 families work. I tried to do that in the UK and politically, it just ran against a brick wall. You need more courageous politicians that are willing to do this,” he said at a conference as part of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative in Armenia.

Polman called on EU leaders to address the projected 10 million-strong labor deficit across Europe by 2020 by incentivising companies to hire asylum seekers.