The crisis between Paris and London crossed a new threshold on Friday, with France’s cancellation of British participation in a crisis meeting on migrants on Sunday, in response to comments by Boris Johnson asking France to take back arriving immigrants in Great Britain.
Beyond the content of the letter, it is its publication that ulcerated France. “I am surprised at the methods when they are not serious,” said Emmanuel Macron, visiting Rome.
“We do not communicate from one leader to another on these issues by tweets and by letters that are made public, we are not whistleblowers ”, underlined the French president.
In a message to his British counterpart Priti Patel, the French Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, indicates that, if the letter is a “disappointment”, its publication is “even worse”. As a result, he canceled the coming of Mme Patel in Calais on Sunday. The meeting will take place in the presence of the ministers responsible for Belgian, German and Dutch immigration, as well as the European Commission.
It will focus on strengthening operational cooperation in the fight against smugglers, “because these are international networks that operate in different European countries”, according to the entourage of the French Minister of the Interior. Despite these very harsh words, London asked Paris to reinstate the invitation to its Home Secretary.
“Global challenge”
Boris Johnson also assumes this letter, sent according to him “in a spirit of partnership and cooperation” with France, said the spokesman for the British Prime Minister. “It is a global challenge to which we must respond collectively, with the French and our other European partners,” he added.
In his letter, Mr Johnson deplores the “catastrophe” represented by the sinking of a ship off Calais on Wednesday, which resulted in the deaths of 27 migrants: 17 men, 7 women and 3 children.
This is the deadliest migratory tragedy since the increase in Channel crossings in 2018, in front of the increasing lockdown of the port of Calais and the rail tunnel, used until then.
The question of crossings, a regular subject of bilateral tensions, is a delicate one for the British Conservative government, which has made the fight against immigration its hobbyhorse in the wake of Brexit and which sees the south coast of England struggling for months with massive arrivals of migrants.
If France and the United Kingdom seemed so far to want to silence their disagreements and improve their coordination, the demand of Boris Johnson has tense Paris.
Fishing and submarines
“I propose that we put in place a bilateral readmission agreement to allow the return of all illegal migrants crossing the Channel,” he said in his letter, referring to similar agreements concluded by the European Union (EU ) with Belarus or Russia.
Seeming on the same wavelength, Priti Patel called for a “coordinated international effort” before British MPs. “There are enough of double talk and the permanent outsourcing of British problems”, lamented the spokesman of the French government, Gabriel Attal. “It makes you wonder now if Boris Johnson does not regret having left Europe because, as soon as he has a problem, he considers that it is up to Europe to manage it! He asserted.
When asked if Paris was going to denounce the Touquet agreements, which have fixed the British border on the French coast since 2004, in exchange for financial compensation, the French government spokesman replied that, whatever the agreements in force, “you will never be able to change neither the geography, nor the geopolitical balances, nor the desire of migrants who want to go to Great Britain”.
As of November 20, 31,500 migrants had left the coast since the start of the year and 7,800 had been rescued. Before Wednesday’s sinking, the human toll since January had risen to three dead and four missing.