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The governments of France and the United Kingdom staged new clashes on November 26 over the passage and death of migrants in their shared waters. President Emmanuel Macron assured that Boris Johnson should use more serious “methods” or withdraw from the discussions. Words that come after the British government published a letter on Twitter about the crisis, which unleashed the anger of the Elysee, which in turn canceled a meeting between its interior ministers.
France and the United Kingdom, two traditional allies, faced by the flow of migrants. The French president Emmanuel Macron raised the tone this November 26 in front of his counterpart, the British Boris Johnson.
“I am surprised when things are not done seriously, we do not communicate with leaders through tweets or published letters, we are not whistleblowers,” Macron said at a press conference in Rome.
The words of the French president referred to Johnson’s letter to Macron, in which he asked him to recover the migrants who crossed the English Channel into British territory in small boats.
In addition, in the letter, the British prime minister insisted on what he considers must be done to prevent people from making the dangerous journey: joint patrols along its coasts. A proposal that Paris has already rejected on previous occasions, amid concerns for its national sovereignty.
Although in recent months and after Brexit, the United Kingdom and France have faced discrepancies over fishing, the flow of migrants has exacerbated the tension with more head-on clashes between their officials.
France withdraws an invitation to the United Kingdom to address the immigration situation
Infuriated by the letter, and by the fact that the British Government took the unusual step of making it public and in its entirety through Twitter, the Elysee withdrew the invitation he had made to the UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, to attend a meeting on the immigration issue.
Patel’s meeting was scheduled for next Sunday, November 28 in Paris with his French counterpart, Gérald Darmanin. But Darmanin in turn called Johnson’s letter “a disappointment” and noted that Patel “is no longer welcome.”
“We are fed up with the double talk (of London),” added spokesman Gabriel Attal.
The differences between the two governments to address the problem were already notorious, when less than 24 hours earlier Macron asked Johnson not to “politicize” the situation. In his opinion, the conservative leader would use the passage of migrants for the benefit of his government. However, Macron wanted to emphasize a “shared responsibility.”
The migration meeting will go ahead, without Patel but with ministers from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and officials from the European Commission.
“The (EU) ministers will work seriously to solve serious problems with serious people (…) Then we will see how to move forward efficiently with the British, if they decide to get serious,” Macron said.
Johnson’s spokesman responded that “this is an issue that we are taking very seriously.”
Although the irregular passage of migrants through the narrow maritime space that the two countries share has been exacerbated in recent months, the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the fatal drowning of at least 27 people on November 24, while transported in precarious boats.
It was the deadliest incident since the International Organization for Migration (ILO) began counting cases in 2014.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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