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The English Channel, which separates the British Isles from continental Europe, is the new point of tension and disputes between the British and the French in the face of the increase in migrants trying to cross these waters. Most of them depart from the French port of Calais and try to sail to the shores of the United Kingdom, near the city of Dover. In this edition of El Debate we analyze the situation between France and the United Kingdom due to the migratory flow in this maritime passage.
The transit of migrants through the English Channel has increased exponentially in recent months, especially since the United Kingdom left the European Union. So far in 2021, some 31,500 migrants have tried to cross from France to the United Kingdom in an irregular way and some 7,800 have been rescued by coastguards from both countries.
What worries the authorities is that, given the increase in the migratory flow, deaths and accidents have also increased. So far this year, 41 migrants have drowned in their attempt to reach the UK to build a better future. The death toll is incomparable with that of previous years. In 2020, the figure reached up to seven people dead and two more missing. While in 2019 there were four migrants who drowned in the English Channel.
What motivates the increase in migrants trying to reach the UK, even putting their lives in danger? Why can’t Paris and London come to an agreement? Is the migration issue getting out of hand for the European Union? The English Channel joins the crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus, the crisis in the Mediterranean on the Italian island of Lampedusa or the island of Lesbos in the Aegean between Turkey and Greece.
We analyze this topic with our guests:
– Alexandra Castro Franco, Doctor of Law from the Paris 2 University and researcher and consultant on migration issues.
– Francisco Rey, co-director of the Institute for Conflict Studies and Humanitarian Action.
– And in the France 24 study we are accompanied by Ildiko Szegedy Maszak, doctor in Legal Sociology and Political Institutions, expert on issues of the European Union and International Cooperation and professor at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá.
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