Now Macron in cold as Priti goes Dutch on migrant crisis
EMMANUEL Macron faced embarrassment last night as it emerged that Priti Patel was seeking a new deal with European partners on returning Channel migrants.
Amid new attacks from France, the Home Secretary opened direct talks with European ministers yesterday after the deaths of at least 27 people last week.
The French government barred Miss Patel from attending a Calais summit after president Macron took umbrage at an alleged breach of protocol.
Despite his tantrum, the Home Office said Miss Patel spoke with her Dutch counterpart yesterday and secured crucial agreements on reforms.
A spokesman said both ministers acknowledged that returns agreements – allowing migrants to be sent from the UK back to other EU nations – were ‘essential for breaking the criminal business model’ operated by organised crime gangs who charge more than £3,000 per illegal crossing.
‘Break the criminal business model’
France has repeatedly refused to consider a deal on returning migrants from the UK. A Whitehall source said: ‘We will this week have more talks with counterparts on how we can work together to resolve this Europewide crisis. Priti’s Nationality and Borders Bill is the first step in addressing the broken asylum system and the pull factors it creates.’
Last night French interior minister Gerald Darmanin blamed Britain for the Channel crisis, saying : ‘If migrants are coming to Calais, Dunkirk or northern France, it’s because they are attracted by England, especially the labour market which means you can work in England without any identification.’
At yesterday’s meeting, France agreed to allow aerial surveillance of its coastline by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency from Wednesday. France had repeatedly rejected offers of aerial reconnaissance planes from the UK.
A UK government source said: ‘We want close collaboration and we want to work together. For this to happen then we must be around the table.’
A Home Office spokesman said Miss Patel spoke with Dutch migration minister Ankie Broekers-Knol and they ‘agreed that the tragic incidents of last week demonstrate the need for European partners to work together’. The spokesman added: ‘The Home Secretary expressed that it was unfortunate that she wouldn’t be present at [the] meeting of interior ministers in Calais to discuss this issue.
‘The Home Secretary and minister for migration discussed ideas for enhanced bilateral and EU co-operation, including the need to tackle the criminal gangs that are orchestrating these deadly journeys through shared intelligence and joint law enforcement initiatives. Both agreed that returns agreements are essential for breaking the criminal business model.’
Talks with other nations are planned this week, it is understood. Three children, seven women and 17 men died off Calais on Wednesday last week while attempting to reach the UK from northern France.
On Friday, Mr Macron criticised PM Boris Johnson for posting a five-point action plan on Twitter. It led Mr Darmanin to withdraw Miss Patel’s invitation to yesterday’s talks.
The Home Secretary wrote in the Sun on Sunday: ‘We need to be creative about finding new solutions that will have the maximum possible impact, which is why the prime minister and I stand ready to discuss proposals with our French counterparts at any time.’
Health Secretary and former home secretary Sajid Javid said the PM’s strategy – including joint Anglo-French patrols and return agreements – were ‘exactly the kinds of things we need to do’. ‘Our policy is very clear: these boats must stop. We do need the cooperation of the French,’ he told Sky News.
More than 26,500 migrants have reached UK shores since the start of the year compared with just 8,410 in all of 2020.
STUNG by accusations he is complicit in the deaths of Channel migrants by failing to stop people-smuggling gangs, Emmanuel Macron has finally taken action.
At an emergency meeting yesterday aimed at solving the crisis (from which the president petulantly barred home Secretary Priti Patel), France agreed to let EU planes monitor its coastline to hunt traffickers. In recent months Britain has offered aircraft – but Mr Macron turned his nose up.
This demonstrates clearly that he is more interested in pathetic political pointscoring than saving lives. when a statesman is needed in the Elysee Palace, we have a sub-sixth form student. ThE Post office has gone to shameful
to cover up faults in its horizon IT system that led to hundreds of postmasters being wrongly convicted of stealing. Many were jailed. All had their lives ruined. Now we learn that before installing the programme, it successfully lobbied to make it easier to prosecute individuals by not having to prove the computers were glitch-free. Victims are furious. will bosses ever come clean on all they know about this scandal?