“It is necessarily a collective failure when people lose their lives in despicable conditions”, declares Gérald Darmanin

From London, the Minister of the Interior reaffirmed to franceinfo that it is the “smugglers who are criminals”, ensuring “fight” against them to change the situation.

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The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, May 24, 2023. (LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP)

It is necessarily a collective failure when people lose their lives in despicable conditions“, said this Thursday from England Gérald Darmanin, at the microphone of the permanent special envoy of Radio France in London. The Minister of the Interior, traveling to the United Kingdom since Wednesday, reacted to the sinking of a boat of migrants off Greece which left at least 78 dead.

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For Gérald Darmanin, who then draws a parallel with the situation of migrants crossing the Channel illegally, these are the “smugglers who are criminals” : “The first responsible for this situation are the smugglers“. The Minister of the Interior therefore wishes “to struggle against“against them to change the situation.

Another track put forward by the minister: “Strengthen our means of relief, that’s for sure. But also our means of legal cooperatione”. He explains: “If there are legal pathways to immigration, then there is no need for smugglers anymore.“.

Gérald Darmanin asserts that “it is also this [qu’il est] come to tell our British friends, because there are no legal pathways for those who want, for example, to seek asylum in Great Britain. And they are many“. Gérald Darmanin expects reciprocity: “We have to understand the British difficulties but they also have to understand that it is time there was a migration link between Britain and the European Union“, he concludes.


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