With a pact with France, the British government wants to keep one of its most important election promises and significantly reduce illegal immigration across the English Channel. Interior Minister Suella Braverman signed an agreement with her colleague Gérald Darmanin in Paris on Monday, which for the first time provides for British officials to be sent to France as observers and vice versa. According to the Interior Ministry in Paris, 40 percent more police officers and new surveillance technology are to be deployed on the north coast of France. London in particular will pay for this. An amount of 72.2 million euros is planned for 2022 and 2023.
France has now also pledged investments in reception centers in southern France. This is intended to discourage migrants coming via the Mediterranean from going to the Channel coast and give them a safe alternative. Unauthorized immigration is one of the UK Conservative government’s biggest concerns, although it is significantly lower than in most EU countries. For years, however, the number of illegal channel crossings has been increasing – although London has long promised to solve the problem.
The authorities are particularly targeting Albanian refugees
Both countries want to particularly target illegal entries from Albania. From there, according to British figures, almost a third of migrants make it across the English Channel, which is mainly due to the fact that criminal Albanian gangs control the refugee camps in northern France. Over the weekend, more than 1,800 people in small, often unseaworthy boats reached the British coast. This year there are already more than 41,000 – significantly more than in the whole of 2021 and more than ever before. The government had promised that freedom of movement would end with Brexit.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed confidence that the deal will reduce the number of crossings. The agreement came ten days before the anniversary of a disaster in the English Channel: On November 24, 2021, 27 people drowned when their rubber boat capsized.