Four days after the sinking of a boat which caused the death of twenty-seven migrants who tried to reach England by crossing the Channel, a European meeting was held in Calais (Pas-de-Calais), Sunday 28 November.
The French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, his German, Belgian and Dutch counterparts as well as the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and the directors of the European criminal police (Europol) and border (Frontex) agencies have announced a series of measures and intentions supposed to stem the phenomenon of the Channel and North Sea crossings. These have exploded since 2018 and, in 2021, allowed more than 26,000 people to reach the United Kingdom aboard makeshift inflatable boats.
Essentially, it is the principle of enhanced police and judicial cooperation that has been enacted, in order to fight against smugglers. “Often, boat purchases are made in Germany, the money [est] in Belgium, the smugglers are housed in the Netherlands ”, justified Gérald Darmanin, during a press point on Sunday. Belgium has, moreover, not reacted officially to the words of the French Minister of the Interior when he affirmed, at the beginning of October, that ” half “ of those who attempted the crossing from Calais or Dunkirk (North) came from Belgium.
The French services also estimate that many of those who attempt the crossing aboard trucks often registered in Eastern Europe are embarked in Belgium. Networks of Iraqi Kurdish smugglers are also said to be present on Belgian territory. Germany is singled out because large boats used for the best organized passages are made in China but would be stored on its territory, before being transported to the beaches of Pas-de-Calais. Networks would also be established there, as in the Netherlands.
Deployment of an aircraft commissioned by Frontex
Participants at Sunday’s meeting also said they wanted to improve returns to the countries of origin of migrants on the coast. “There are a lot of Iraqis in the North and we cannot make forced returns, explains Mr. Darmanin’s entourage. Work with the European Commission is progressing. “ He cited as an example the success of EU diplomacy in the Belarusian crisis, which resulted in the suspension of direct air links between Baghdad and Minsk.
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