Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

UK offers €10mn for security after migrants storm Channel Tunnel

  • The UK is stepping up security around Calais to prevent migrants from crossing the Channel Tunnel (Photo: Jey OH photographie)

The UK has offered France some €10 million to help build a new fence in Calais after there were around 2000 attempts by migrants to enter the Eurotunnel Monday.

A French police source told AFP that some 2,000 attempts were made on Monday (27 July).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The source noted the figure did not represent the number of migrants but only the number of attempts.

French police said another 1,500 attempts were made on Tuesday night (28 July), with one migrant from Sudan killed after being crushed by a lorry, reports Le Monde.

UK home secretary Theresa May, for her part, on Tuesday announced the extra funds alongside her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve.

“The UK government will be putting in up to £7 million more to ensure the security of the Eurotunnel railhead”, she said.

The money will help pay for a new 2km fence at the Eurotunnel site at Coquelles.

The UK has already paid around €5 million to put up barriers at the site.

The Eurotunnel company, which manages the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, says it wants millions more in compensation from both governments because of the disruptions.

The latest incursion caused up to 30-minute delays on the French side for passengers wanting to cross the Channel Tunnel and up to a one-hour delay on the UK side.

But similar disruptions have been caused by an on-going spat between ferry staff from France's MyFerryLink and the Eurotunnel group.

Last week, French ferry workers blocked access to the Channel Tunnel terminal after setting fire to tyres.

An estimated 3,000 migrants are camped in and around the port, known as the 'jungle'.

Most migrants are fleeing persecution and conflict from places like Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Eritreans have a high chance of getting asylum in most member states.

But France last year only approved 15 percent of Eritrean applications, according to the EU’s statical office Eurostat.

Afghan asylum applications in France fared much better with an above 80 percent approval rate.

Those unable to pay smugglers opt to take matters in their own hands and attempt to scramble onto the back of lorries. Many risk their lives in the process.

Earlier this month near Calais, a body was found on the roof a freight train heading to the UK.

French police do not record the death or injury incidents.

But a Guardian investigation last year revealed at least 15 migrants in Calais had died in their attempts to reach Britain. Another nine perished trying to enter the tunnel since June.

Aid agencies say the situation has since become worse with some describing the squalid living conditions and desperation of the migrants camped around the port “as catastrophic”.

In late March, French authorities forced over 1000 migrants to move from makeshift camps around Calais to a former garbage dump around seven kilometres from town centre.

French NGOs in April denounced the move. The new state-sanctioned site has no running water, no electricity, and no toilet facilities.

“This must be one of the worst refugee camps in the world. Even in African camps they have water and toilets. It’s just a wasteland”, an aid worker told the Guardian in April.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us