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UK and France clash over response to migrant tragedy on Channel

Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron on Thursday struggled to coordinate a consistent response to death of 27 migrants who had drowned trying to cross the English Channel from France the day before.

The British and French governments, plagued by deteriorating relations since Brexit, have blamed criminal networks for the tragedy and vowed to crack down on gangs as asylum seekers risk their lives. took their lives in small boats.

“We need stronger European cooperation on this, because France is a transit country,” the French president said during a visit to Croatia.

Tensions continued between Britain and France yesterday when Priti Patel, the British home secretary, said the French government had taken measures to prevent people from crossing the English Channel. She told the House of Commons: “I have offered to work with France to put officers on the ground and do whatever is necessary to secure the area so that vulnerable people do not risk their lives. their own by boarding unreliable boats.

Macron added that France is asking for “more mobilization from the British. Because I remind you, when it comes to this, we are keeping the border for the British.”

The French President said necessary cooperation to improve with Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain and the European Commission. Jean Castex, his prime minister, is inviting the ministers responsible for immigration to a meeting in Calais on Sunday to discuss the crisis.

Both Johnson and Macron are exposed to criticism from anti-immigration politicians about their perceived failure to stop thousands of asylum seekers and other migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Two migrants rescued on Wednesday and recovering from severe hypothermia arrived from Iraq and Somalia.

Macron has moved to harden his migration policies ahead of his re-election campaign next April against anti-immigration candidates such as polemicist Eric Zemmour and far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
Bilateral cooperation between London and Paris has been plagued by post-Brexit arguments, and sometimes hostile comments, between the French and British leaders on everything from migrants to permits. fishing, Covid-19 policy and the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol.

Gérard Romiti, the head of France’s fisheries commission, yesterday said fishermen would use trucks to block three ports – Calais, Saint-Malo and Ouistreham near Caen – and the highway access to the Channel Tunnel into Friday served as a “warning shot” to the UK over its refusal to issue sufficient permits to French fishing boats after Brexit.

UK immigration figures released on Thursday show the impact of small boat migration on the UK’s asylum system. It received 15,104 applications in the July-September quarter, which is 60% higher than the same period in 2020. Applications in the year to September were up 18% year over year to September. 2020, to 37,562.

However, in the year to June – the last comparable time period – 37,235 applications were received still making the UK only fourth in Europe in terms of asylum applications received, behind 113,625 in Germany and 87,180 in France.

Hundreds of people gathered in Calais and Dunkirk on Thursday night to mourn the deaths of evacuees at sea as they tried to cross the canal, with candles lit and speeches in English and Arabic.

Jean-Marc Puissesseau, president and president of the ports of Calais and Boulogne, said he was completely “fed up” with the lack of support available to those in dire situations in the camps around the city and the lack of support. Increasing security for 130 km of coastline is “Not the Solution”.

He said the millions of euros spent on policy controls should instead be used to create an international hub for migrants, funded by countries across Europe, which houses potential asylum seekers and help them process their applications. He said: It is a “failure of the EU and the UK” that a system like this has not been created to treat displaced people humanely.

Additional reporting by Eir Nolsoe in Paris

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