French report hits UKon migrants
Says cooperation lacking at Channel
PARIS — The United Kingdom is not sufficiently coordinating with France in efforts to reduce the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, according to a French report that points to the “uncertain effectiveness” of illegal migration policies.
France is “struggling to develop operational cooperation arrangements” with the UK, according to the report published Thursday by France’s Court of Accounts, a body in charge of auditing the use of public funds, independent from the government and parliament.
The report refers in particular to a joint intelligence unit created in 2020 to fight human smuggling and reduce the number of people risking their lives to cross the Channel. In 2022, it helped dismantle seven peoplesmuggling networks.
The court “found that the British don't provide usable information on the departures of small boats, and give very general, first-level information that has not been counter-checked.”
Information on the circumstances in which migrants arrive and their nationalities “appears to be very patchy," the report said. “The relationship between France and the UK is therefore unbalanced in terms of information and intelligence exchange.”
Britain rejected the claims. The UK Home Office said Thursday that the report “is based on out-of-date information and does not accurately reflect our current working relationship, including intelligence sharing, with France.”
“In the last two years, we have taken more robust action alongside them to crack down on vile people-smuggling gangs and stop the boats,” it said in a statement. “We continue to work closely with French partners at all levels, helping to drive forward improvements in the prevention of crossing attempts, both on the beaches and long before they reach them.
The UK Defense Ministry estimated that crossings of the English Channel by boat increased by at least 58 percent between 2021 and 2022, a year that saw over 45,000 migrants arrive on British shores.
The report said 56 percent of crossing attempts were prevented that same year — unchanged from the year before.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to stop people making the dangerous journey across a busy shipping lane. The British government announced this week that the number of migrants crossing fell by more than a third in 2023, to just over 29,000 — though whether government action or bad weather is the reason is debated.
The Home Office said that another 26,000 “of these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossing attempts were prevented in 2023 thanks to our partnership with France.”
France in recent years has stepped up efforts to prevent migrants from crossing the Channel, including through more police, equipment and facilities. The country received 222 million euros ($243 million) from the UK from 2018 to 2022 as part of a bilateral agreement, and Sunak in March promised 480 million pounds ($609 million or 556 million euros) for the 2023-2026 period.
The Court of Account's report assessed a series of other issues related to illegal immigration policies, which were subject to 133 changes in law in the past decade.
It pointed to the difficulty of implementing orders to leave the national territory, despite France carrying out the most deportations in the European Union. Over 150,000 such decisions were made in 2022 and only 10 percent of the concerned people actually left, it said.