France and the United Kingdom signed a new agreement in Paris on Monday to strengthen their cooperation in order to try to stop irregular immigration from the French coasts to the British ones.
The agreement, signed by the heads of the Interior of both countries, Gérald Darmanin and Suella Braverman, is the extension and expansion of a previous agreement, and provides for more maritime patrols and the supply of more technical means, as part of of better bilateral cooperation to reduce the number of crossings The Sleeve.
The new deal includes twelve points and the UK will increase its financial contribution to the measures France takes up to €72.2 million for the period 2022-23, read a joint statement released by the French Interior Ministry.
The aim is to complicate the Channel migration route to the point of making it “impracticable” and to “dismantle organized crime and facilitation networks”, the document reads.
Highlights include a 40% increase in patrols on French beaches over the next five months, or the use of cutting-edge technology, such as surveillance cameras at key crossing points.
In addition, and for the first time, there will be observers embarked on ships from the other country, with the aim of improving understanding and communication on both sides of the Channel.
A joint task force will also be set up to combat the sharp increase in the flow of Albanians into the UK and organized crime groups exploiting irregular immigration routes to UK shores.
Despite joint efforts and a previous bilateral agreement, “the number of crossing attempts continues to increase”, so Paris and London are trying to “make the route of precarious boats impassable, save lives, dismantle criminal groups and prevent and discourage the ‘irregular immigration to transit countries,’ the statement summed up.
London regularly accuses Paris of not doing enough to stop it, while the French side blames British legislation for having a knock-on effect on irregular immigrants.
As of Nov. 1, nearly 40,000 people had irregularly crossed the Channel into British territory, according to official data from London, which is the highest number since counting began in 2018.
Aid to boats in difficulty is constant (last weekend 142 people were saved on board three boats).
Furthermore, the crossing is very dangerous due to the high maritime traffic, the bad weather that usually reigns in the area and the low temperature of the waters.
For this reason, drownings and accidents are not uncommon, such as the one recorded on November 24, 2021, when 27 people of Kurdish-Iraqi and Kurdish-Iranian origin drowned in a shipwreck.
CP (efe, afp)
