The “One for A” pilot project is the issue of criticism and reserves. During his official visit to the United Kingdom, Emmanuel Macron concluded this Thursday, July 10 with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, an agreement on migrants who cross the La Mancha channel aboard “small ships.”
These precarious ships allowed 21,000 migrants to attract in England from the beaches of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, but caused many shipwrecks with at least one. Ten dead since the beginning of the year.
This agreement is innovative to the extent that it establishes that small boats once arrived in England will be returned to France. In return, the United Kingdom undertakes to accept a migrant who is in France, provided that links with the country, such as the presence of relatives.
Migrants who will try to cross the round will be prohibited will be prohibited definitively of the British asylum system. The purpose of this measure is to “undermine the economic model of the smugglers,” said the press release of the British government.
For Emmanuel Macron, this project “will have a very dissuasive effect on the smugglers and crosses model”, while Keir Starmer was delighted with a “revolutionary” agreement. This announcement immediately reacted to local elected officials, for the first time concerned about the presence of numerous candidates at the beginning in makeshift shelters.
An agreement too favorable for the English?
Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region announced this Friday, July 11 in BFMTV that he was going to send a letter to Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, with the mayors of the coast, to denounce the agreement. “As presented today, this agreement is an evil for France. As usual, this is a good agreement for the English,” he said.
“They will have the chosen immigration and we will have immigration, which is not the case today.”
The former minister believes that the United Kingdom is now not sufficiently involved in the control of migration due to Touquet agreements signed in 2003 that trust border surveillance to France with financial compensation.
“Take what we do with the Italians, sometimes the Spaniards, there are results, except that with the English, it is not possible, they let us do everything,” he deplores.
The European Union prefers to delay
Last June, with the first echoes of these negotiations for a Franco-British pact, Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus they had expressed their “concern”, fearing that France sent the migrants to the first country in the EU in which they arrived.
“What this agreement makes is to reintroduce to England in a European Union operation, with the Dublin agreements, of which Brexit had left,” said Didier Leschi, president of the French immigration and integration office in the BFMTV set.
The European Commission said Friday that it would “study” the methods of the agreement between France and the United Kingdom on a project to exchange migrants.
“The growing number of migrants crossing the Canal de la Mancha is alarming and requires a robust response,” said Markus Lammert, spokesman for the European Executive.
“Regarding the specific cooperation provided between France and the United Kingdom, the Commission will evaluate the concrete methods of this agreement,” he added.
“We exchange human beings how we would exchange Pokémon cards”
For many associations that work with migrants in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, this agreement is condemnable. “France and the United Kingdom have announced an agreement to” exchange migrants. “We call it trafficking in people,” said Utopia 56, for example.
Questioned by BFMTV, Flore Judet, coordinator of Auberge des Migrants in Calais denounced “a dehumanization.”
“We exchange human beings as we would exchange Pokémon cards. We are talking about people who have already traveled thousands of kilometers and see the United Kingdom as a last hope. The deterrent element will not exist.”
Mickoël Neuman, director of Studies of the Médecins Sans Frontières Reflection Center believes that these new measures are in vain and dangerous. He fears the evolution of the French police doctrine requested by the United Kingdom that would allow the police to intervene when the boats are already in the water.
“Historically, interceptions were made in the field, France was reluctant to intervene in the sea. Intervening in the sea in overcrowded boats will lead to a multiplication of drowning,” considers BFMTV.com.
English elected officials also skeptics
Even throughout the channel, the announcement of this project also raises criticism, particularly in opposition to the government. Thus, Kemi Bedenich, head of conservative deputies already believes that such agreement is ineffective. “Does this agreement make the difference? Probably not. 17 entries for an expulsion, it is not deterrence,” he reacted to X.
“It’s just a trick. The figures are extremely limited. It was reported that there would only be 50 comments per week. It is something that the prime minister did not report when we asked him the question, only 6% of the crosses,” said deputy Chris Philp to the BBC.
Nigel Farage, leader of the reform of the distant party, the United Kingdom has completely described the sequence “[d’]humiliation. “” We act as a member of the European Union and we are inclined to a arrogant French president, “he wrote on the same platform.
Source: BFM TV
