Countries’ action pledge on migrants
Move in wake of border controls future
Britain and France have pledged to work together to address the Calais migrant crisis in the wake of questions about the future of cooperation on border controls.
The governments of the two countries presented a united front after a meeting between Home Secretary Amber Rudd and her French counterpart.
BRITAIN AND France have pledged to work together to address the Calais migrant crisis in the wake of questions about the future of co-operation on border controls.
The governments of the two countries presented a united front after a meeting between Home Secretary Amber Rudd and her counterpart, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
It follows controversy over a proposal to allow migrants to lodge UK asylum claims on French soil - a plan dismissed by a Home Office source as a “complete non-starter”.
A joint statement released yesterday from both governments after talks between Ms Rudd and Mr Cazeneuve in Paris said: “In the face of the challenges posed by ongoing migratory flows in Europe, and taking into account the migratory pressure in the Calais region and the particularly difficult humanitarian situation, we are committed to working together to strengthen the security of our shared border, to strongly diminish the migratory pressure in Calais and preserve the vital economic link supported by the juxtaposed controls in Calais.”
The two nations committed to a number of specific steps, including further securing the ports and tunnel in the region. Britain has already provided about £85m to reinforce security.
Other measures which the two governments have outlined in the join statement include addressing the huge humanitarian challenges in Calais, where about 7,000 migrants are now gathered - including 5,000 without housing.
Ministers have also pledged to continue to work together to return illegal migrants in Calais who are not in need of protection, as well as bringing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK when in their best interest.
The statement, which reaffirmed a commitment to closer cooperation on counter-terrorism, security and migration, comes after a long-standing agreement on border controls came under scrutiny.
Under the Treaty of Le Touquet, British immigration officials check passports in Calais while their French counterparts do the same in Dover - an arrangement known as “juxtaposed controls”.
On Monday, Xavier Bertrand, the president of the Hauts-deFrance Nord Pas De CalaisPicardie region, which includes Calais, claimed that he wants a “new treatment” for asylum seekers trying to get to Britain from France.
He said: “If the British Government don’t want to open this discussion, we will tell you the Touquet Agreement is over.”
A Downing Street spokesman said local politicians in France occasionally called for changes to the Le Touquet arrangements, but that the Paris government’s continued support for the agreement was clearly restated last month in talks between Prime Minister Theresa May and the French president, Francois Hollande.
Asked about presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy’s call for a processing centre in England to deal with asylum requests from those in Calais, the Downing Street spokesman declined to speculate on the position of a possible future French administration.
He pointed out that it was Mr Sarkozy, in a previous stint as interior minister, who had first struck the Le Touquet deal with the UK.
We will tell you that the Touquet Agreement is over Xavier Bertrand on the French reaction should the British Government not open the discussion.