‘Jungle’ to be shut in weeks, says Hollande
FRANÇOIS HOLLANDE, the French president, has pledged to shut down the notorious “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais within weeks by dispatching its residents to dozens of “reception centres” dotted across the country.
Around 9,000 people will be moved from Calais to 140 centres across France in the coming weeks, Mr Hollande said during a visit to one of the new centres in the city of Tours in the Loire Valley.
The camp, whose population has doubled since June to around 10,000 migrants, most of whom are trying to get into England on the back of a truck, has for years poisoned relations between Britain and France.
The latest plan to dismantle the camp is to send groups of 40 to 50 migrants to the “reception centres” for a limited period of three to four months, said Mr Hollande, who is to visit Calais tomorrow, but not venture into the camp itself.
Those who qualify for asylum criteria will be allowed to stay in France, while those who do not will be deported, the Socialist president said.
“There should be no camps in France,” he said, adding that the goal was to completely dismantle the “Jungle”.
Migrants and immigration have become a key theme as French politicians limber up for next year’s presidential election.
Several Right-wing opposition leaders, including Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president, have promised to tear up an agreement under which border controls of people heading for the UK take place on the French side of the channel, saying Britain should handle the problem itself.
Many of them have also said they will refuse to receive migrants from Calais in the areas that they control, warning that Mr Hollande’s policy would result in a host of “mini-Calais” camps across the country.
Yesterday, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, called for Europe to secure deals with countries to send back migrants who do not qualify for asylum. Speaking after talks in Vienna with leaders along the Balkan migrants trail into Europe, Mrs Merkel said the continent must “stop illegal immigration while living up to our humanitarian responsibilities”.
To this end “it is necessary to get agreements with third countries, especially in Africa but also Pakistan and Afghanistan… so that it becomes clear that those with no right to stay in Europe can go back to their home countries,” she said.