Macron’s Eu-wide migration deal rejected by commission

THE European Commission has rejected Emmanuel Macron’s call for an Eu-wide agreement for migrants crossing the Channel illegally to be sent back to Europe.

Brussels has no plans to negotiate a migrant return deal with Rishi Sunak, despite improved relations after the new Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland.

An EU official said: “The European Commission is not envisaging an asylum returns agreement with the UK right now.”

The Prime Minister and Mr Macron agreed a deal to tackle the small boats crisis, which will cost the UK £470million over the next three years, at a summit in France on Friday.

The French president insisted any returns deal would have to be made at EU level, rather than between Paris and London, as the two leaders tried to rebuild relations badly strained by Brexit.

As part of Brexit, the UK left the EU’S Dublin Regulation, which gives the right for countries to send back illegal migrants to the first safe EU country they landed in. Brussels is responsible for negotiating Eu-wide agreements on behalf of its member states and is the only body able to strike a replacement return deal. EU officials have now ruled out a deal for the short to medium term.

Mr Sunak has not given up hope on a returns agreement in the long term and hopes Paris can use its influence to sway Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president.

But the swift rebuff from Brussels risks fuelling suspicions Mr Macron, an enthusiastic Europhile, only called for the deal to avoid directly refusing to take Channel migrants back.

The commission’s position may change in the long-term, sources said, but the new Windsor Framework for Northern Ireland has not changed minds in Brussels. There is also no great push from other European capitals to demand that work begins on preparing for migration negotiations with Britain

Migration is one of the most divisive issues in the EU, which would make getting support for talks to begin, let alone for a deal itself, difficult.

The commission’s negotiating mandate for the UK-EU trade deal and the Windsor Framework did not include an agreement on migration.

London has instead been forced to try to strike bilateral deals on migration with individual member states. This has given transit countries leverage to ask for more money.