Less than 48 hours after Wednesday night’s tragedy, 27 migrants drowned in the English Channel as they tried to cross to the UK, Paris and London called for greater cooperation. But after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s remarks, the French Home Secretary said the British were no longer welcome. Emmanuel Macron denounces methods ” not serious “.
The planned meeting between European ministers will take place on Sunday, November 28 in Calais to try to break the deadlock. But without the UK. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin canceled the invitation to the British. The reason for this crisis: the remarks made by Boris Johnson asking France to take back the immigrants arriving in Great Britain.
Until then, France and the United Kingdom seemed to want to improve their collaboration to avoid a new tragedy in the waters of the Channel, but Boris Johnson’s letter to Emmanuel Macron, made public, accelerated the tension in relations and the minister of the French Interior canceled the visit of his British counterpart Priti Patel. On the sidelines of his press conference with Mario Draghi after the signing of the Quirinal Treaty, Emmanuel Macron spoke about this crisis between London and Paris.
I am surprised at the methods when they are not serious. We do not communicate from one leader to another on these issues by tweets and letters that we make public, we are not whistleblowers. Come on, come on … So the ministers are going to work seriously to settle a serious issue with serious people.
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In this letter to the French President, the British Prime Minister asked the French President to take back migrants arriving in England from France, the day after a shipwreck in the English Channel which saw 27 people lose their lives. “I propose that we put in place a bilateral readmission agreement to allow the return of all illegal migrants who cross the Channel”, detailed Boris Johnson. A letter ” indigent in substance and out of place in form Government spokesman Gabriel Attal commented.
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The meeting is still being held with the European Commission and the Belgian, German and Dutch ministers responsible for immigration to fight against smuggling networks. ” The problem goes beyond our borders. This is why we will be working on common solutions from Sunday with our European partners. “, Said the entourage of Gerald Darmanin.
” The British government chooses to engage in domestic politics at a time when our only priority should be to avoid further tragedies in the Channel. We regret it “, We continued in the entourage of the Minister.
► To read also: Shipwreck of migrants: smuggling networks and immigration conditions in question
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