Sunday

26th Mar 2023

Macron eyes France-UK border agreement

  • Three people recently died in their efforts to reach the UK from Calais

French president Emmanuel Macron is set to discuss reforming a bilateral border agreement with UK prime minister Theresa May on Thursday (18 January) amid pressure to prevent migrants from settling around the port city of Calais.

The Le Touquet agreement from 2003 allows British border controls to take place in Calais as well as similar French controls in the UK.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

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

... or subscribe as a group

Macron has threatened to overhaul the agreement with demands that may include more British funding as well as requests to take in more refugees and unaccompanied minors as part of a larger effort to prevent migrant camps from mushrooming in Calais.

In an apparent bid to sweeten the diplomatic pill, Macron is also due to announce that France will send the famous Bayeux Tapestry on loan to the UK. The 11th century artwork depicts the Norman invasion of Britain, and is housed in a special museum in Bayeux, Normandy.

Similar demands to Macron's have been made by Calais' right-wing mayor Natacha Bouchart, who told this website in 2016, that France should "take advantage of UK's EU exit vote" to scrap the agreement and have Britain shoulder expenses.

French authorities at the time had dismantled the so-called Jungle where thousands of people were living in ad-hoc settlements near the city of Calais.

Up to 600 people are now thought to be in Calais in a desperate bid to reach the UK with France deploying 1,130 police officers to patrol the area. Many of the people are said to be from Afghanistan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Some are sleeping rough, others are housed by Calais residents, with another 270 in temporary shelters to protect them from the cold. Three recently died in their attempt to reach the UK.

On official visit in Calais on Tuesday (16 January), Macron said he would not allow another settlement to emerge as he outlined French migration plans to increase accommodation, shorten asylum procedures, create better integration opportunities, and finance the distribution of food to migrants. Food distribution is currently done by NGOs.

"There will be no reconstruction of 'the Jungle' or tolerance of illegal settlements in or around Calais," he said.

He described Calais as a dead-end for anyone without proper paper work hoping to cross the English Channel. He also defended police against accusations of violence recently described in an NGO report as "excessive and life-threatening".

Macron was accompanied by his interior minister Gerard Collomb, who last week told the Le Parisien newspaper that Britain needs to assume more costs and receive more people.

But the UK appears to resist the idea. A UK government spokesperson was cited by the BBC as saying that Britain had already "taken significant number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children from the area around and in Calais".

Collomb's ministry will be overseeing a new interministerial delegation on refugee integration set for launch next week. He is also expected to outline an immigration law in February.

Latest News

  1. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict
  2. Okay, alright, AI might be useful after all
  3. Von der Leyen pledges to help return Ukrainian children
  4. EU leaders agree 1m artillery shells for Ukraine
  5. Polish abortion rights activist vows to appeal case
  6. How German business interests have shaped EU climate agenda
  7. The EU-Turkey migration deal is dead on arrival at this summit
  8. Sweden worried by EU visa-free deal with Venezuela

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us