The Home Secretary also asks the United Kingdom to respect its promise of funding in order to help strengthen French law enforcement on the coasts.
Gérald Darmanin demanded, Saturday, October 9, the negotiation of a treaty on migration issues London and the European Union. The Home Secretary also called on the UK government to “keep his promise” of funding to fight against migratory traffic on the French coasts.
“We need to negotiate a treaty, since Mr Barnier did not do so when he negotiated Brexit, which binds us on migration issues”, he said during a trip to Loon-Plage (North), where migrants try every day to cross the Channel to reach England. France will carry this project when it holds the six-monthly presidency of the European Union in January, he promised.
The question of these crossings is regularly the source of friction between London and Paris, which has recently crystallized on the financial question. “The government [britannique] has not yet paid what he promised us “, said Gérald Darmanin. “We call on the British to keep their promise of funding since we hold the border for them”, he continued.
The United Kingdom pledged at the end of July to pay France 62.7 million euros in 2021-2022 to finance the strengthening of French law enforcement on the coasts. According to the British press, the British Minister of the Interior Priti Patel had however threatened in early September not to pay this sum, in the face of record arrivals of migrants crossing the Channel illegally.
“France has been holding the border for our British friends for over 20 years”, insisted on his side Gerald Darmanin. He recalled that “gendarmes were hired in addition” and “technological means have been bought to keep this border”. “We have succeeded in greatly reducing the migratory pressure”, he assured.