London will give the Elysee 72.2 million euros to help curb immigration, while Paris will increase patrols on the beaches to prevent boats from leaving
France and the United Kingdom signed a new bilateral agreement on Monday in Paris to fight more effectively against irregular immigration in the English Channel, after several years of tensions on migration issues between the two countries. So far this year, more than 40,000 people without proper papers have crossed the English Channel in small boats to the United Kingdom, a record number, according to data from the British Government.
The French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and his British counterpart, Suella Braverman, promised to intensify cooperation between their two countries “in order to make the route of precarious boats unfeasible, save lives, dismantle criminal groups and prevent and deter irregular immigration.
“There is no quick fix, but this new agreement will significantly increase the number of French gendarmes patrolling the beaches of northern France and ensure that British police work hand in hand (with their French colleagues) to stop traffickers. of people,” Braverman explained after signing the agreement. “Only by working together can we hope to solve this complex problem,” added the British head of the Interior portfolio.
Based on this agreement, for the first time, there will be “observers” embarked on patrol boats from the other country, “without this threatening the sovereignty” of each nation, the two governments explained in a joint statement. Paris and London also pledged to allocate “more technological and human resources, especially dedicated to surveillance, detention and interception of attempts to cross the border illegally.”
accusations
The United Kingdom agreed to pay France 72.2 million euros to help stop the crossing of undocumented immigrants in precarious boats through the English Channel. France promised, for its part, to increase by 40% in the next five months the number of members of the security forces that patrol French beaches.
London frequently accuses Paris of not doing enough to curb illegal immigration from the English Channel, while the French government views British employment law as a magnet for illegal immigration. Many immigrants are willing to risk their lives crossing the dangerous English Channel in a precarious boat because they think it is easier to get a job without papers in the UK than in France.
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