London wants to drive migrants back to sea, France refuses all “blackmail”

It is a subject that poisons the relationship between Paris and London. Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, raised the tone, Thursday, September 9, in the conflict between France and Great Britain on the subject of illegal immigration.

“France will not accept any practice contrary to the law of the sea, nor any financial blackmail. Great Britain’s commitment must be kept. I said it clearly to my counterpart “, Priti Patel, insists Mr. Darmanin in a tweet.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel has approved a new strategy of pushing back to France migrant boats crossing the Channel to reach the United Kingdom, several British newspapers reported Thursday. A practice firmly rejected by Paris.

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Refused boats

According to these newspapers, the British border police (Border force) is being trained in new methods of turning back these boats before they reach the south of England, when record flows have been observed in recent months.

The Times specifies that Mme Patel called for the UK’s interpretation of international maritime law to be rewritten in this sense. This strategy, which has received the approval of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, would only be used in “Very limited circumstances” according to the Telegraph, for larger vessels and when the situation is considered safe.

After “Constructive discussions” with her French counterpart, Gérard Darmanin, on Wednesday in London, she reported on Twitter wanting to obtain “Results” and stop crossings “An absolute priority”.

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“The safeguard of human life takes precedence”

From Monday, in a letter addressed to Mr.me Patel, Mr. Darmanin had warned that the use of push-backs at sea “Would risk having a negative impact on our cooperation”.

“At sea, the safeguard of human life takes precedence over considerations of nationality, status and migration policy in strict compliance with international maritime law which organizes search and rescue at sea.”

In his letter, Gérard Darmanin rejected the British proposal to create a “Single joint command center” French and British forces, deeming it contrary to French sovereignty and unnecessary because coordination on the ground is already “Good and efficient”. He recalled that the increase in the number of migrants disembarking in the United Kingdom was mainly explained by the use of smugglers to larger capacity boats.

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London, which has made toughening the fight against immigration a priority since Brexit, wants to make these perilous crossings impractical and has long pressed for France to step up its efforts to prevent them.

A new wave of migrants crossing the Channel has been observed in recent days, facilitated by the good weather. On Monday, 785 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom illegally, after a record of 828 in one day reached in August, bringing to more than 13,000 their number since the beginning of the year, according to the PA news agency.

The World with AFP



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