Friday, November 26th, 2021
Johnson’s letter snubs Macron
French unload British minister
After the boat accident in the English Channel, France wants to discuss measures with Great Britain. But British Prime Minister Johnson outraged French President Macron on Twitter. Shortly afterwards, the Élysée Palace cancels a meeting with Johnson’s interior minister.
After the boat accident in the English Channel with 27 dead, the dispute between London and Paris over measures to curb illegal migration on the Strait threatens to escalate. France canceled a meeting with Britain on migration across the English Channel – shortly after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson via Twitter called for an agreement with France to take back migrants.
The planned meeting of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin with his British counterpart Priti Patel on Sunday will not take place, said a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry in Paris. As planned, Darmanin will meet representatives of the interior ministries from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium on Sunday to discuss the situation on the English Channel.
Johnson writes letter to “dear Emmanuel”
27 people died there on Wednesday on the way to Great Britain when their boat capsized. Johnson had previously written in a letter calling for a refugee readmission agreement, among other measures. That could be the “biggest single step” to destroy the business model of criminal smugglers. Since the implementation of Brexit, Great Britain can no longer make use of a corresponding EU regulation on the return of asylum seekers.
Furthermore, in the letter to “dear Emmanuel” (French President Emmanuel Macron) published on Twitter, Johnson called for joint police patrols on French beaches, the use of technologies such as sensors and radar, access to French territorial waters, air surveillance and closer cooperation with the secret service.
Macron was not very pleased. “You don’t communicate about such things between heads of state via tweet and published letters,” said the French head of state. He also doubted the seriousness of the British advance: “I’m surprised at the method if it is not serious,” Macron continued. The real answer lies “in serious cooperation to prevent these movements, to dismantle these smuggling networks, to prevent these women and men from reaching our country because it will be too late by the time they arrive,” Macron continued .
The dispute over the illegal crossings on the English Channel is not the only point of contention between London and Paris. This Friday, French fishermen temporarily blocked several ports and the access to the Channel Tunnel in Calais. The background to this is a dispute that has been simmering for months over fishing licenses that have not been granted in front of the British Crown’s Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey after Brexit.