On the sidelines of Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a pilot agreement on Thursday, July 10 for an exchange of migrants with France, which must enter into force in the “Next weeks”.
“I am pleased to announce our agreement today on an unprecedented pilot project: for the first time, the migrants arriving in small boats will be stopped and then returned quickly to France”said the Labor Manager, adding that in exchange for each return, “A different individual can come via a controlled and legal route”. Only those “Who have not tried to illegally enter the United Kingdom” Will be eligible for this exchange, he added during a common press conference with the French president.
The announcement of the agreement sparked out of shields among humanitarian associations. “This agreement […] strengthens deterrence instead of providing significant protection. Favoring a stricter application of the law without creating safe and legal paths is both dangerous and ineffective. The facts show that these policies do not prevent people from seeking security; They simply push them to undertake more perilous trips, putting lives in danger »reacted Flora Alexander, director of the British Red Cross.
Doctors without borders, for his part, believes that this project is “Not just absurd”more “Also extremely dangerous”. The NGO CARE4CALAIS has denounced “A sordid agreement […] which is accompanied by an exchange of human lives. An agreement which will probably be expensive, which will make life more difficult for people looking for security in the United Kingdom, but who will not attack the deep cause of crossings: the lack of safe routes “.
The two leaders worked during their meeting on this exchange of migrants based on the “Principle of one for one”. According to The Telegraphthe United Kingdom could return fifty migrants per week to France. It would be the first time that Paris has agreed to take up migrants, but British media and the conservative opposition have already considered that this figure was not enough.
The mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, too, was rebelled Thursday evening against this migration agreement at the microphone of France Info. “I am very angry, stunned, to see that we have no consideration for the mayor that I am and my colleagues from the coast. […] We will find ourselves in a vice because it is now difficult to manage the problem of passage, arrivals, and now we will have to manage the migrants that the British government will have chosen to refer to France. And when we say in France it’s not in Paris, Marseille or Touquet, it will be in Calais, on Grande-Synthe […].And denounce “A national contempt” with regard to local elected officials.
Updated at 7:25 a.m. With the reaction of the mayor of Calais.
