Home Secretary Gerald Darmanin on Saturday 9 October called on the British government to “Keep your promise” financial support for the fight against migratory traffic on the French coast. ” The government [britannique] has not yet paid what he promised us “, said Mr. Darmanin during a trip to Loon-Plage (North). “We call on the English to keep their promise of funding since we hold the border for them”, he continued.
The crossings of migrants who try every day to cross the Channel to reach England are regularly the source of tensions between London and Paris; tensions that have recently crystallized on the financial question. 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, at the beginning of September, not to pay this sum because of the record arrivals of migrants crossing the Channel illegally.
“The 63 million evoked by the British government, for the moment we have not seen the financial color. However, gendarmes were hired in addition, technological means were bought to keep this border ”, explained Mr. Darmanin.
Call to negotiate a treaty on migration issues
He claimed that France was “An ally of Great Britain” corn “Not his vassal”. “We are here to hold a border, it’s true. But we are in favor of doing it in complementarity with our British friends ”, he added. According to him, arrests of illegal boats have increased by 15 points over the past three months, passing “From 50% to 65% of boats stopped”. “We must be able to reach almost 100% if we put all these means and if our British friends continue to help us as they do”, he estimated.
“We need to negotiate a treaty – since Mr (Michel) Barnier did not do so when he negotiated Brexit – which binds us on migration issues ”, added Gérald Darmanin. “I told the British government and we are awaiting its response to initiate these discussions”, he said, promising that France would support this project when it holds the six-monthly presidency of the European Union in January. “We have a tunnel together, we have a sea in common and then we have been friends for a very long time”, pleaded the minister.
Mr. Darmanin also affirmed having received the assurance of the director of the European border surveillance agency Frontex that the latter would be ” the appointment “ from here ” the end of the year “ to help monitor the area, including aerial surveillance.