British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to introduce a pilot scheme for the exchange of migrants on a “one in, one out” basis.
The document stipulates that Britain will accept some asylum seekers who cross the English Channel, while others will be returned to France. A press conference announcing the agreement will conclude the French president’s three-day visit to London.
Officials discussed the details of the agreement until Thursday morning, but most obstacles, including possible objections from other European countries, have been removed. The French side insists on additional funding to strengthen police presence on the northern coast, as this issue remains politically sensitive.
Pilot project
According to a pilot project revealed by the newspaper Le Monde, Britain will be able to return about 2,600 people a year, which is about 6% of all crossings. The British authorities also intend to equip border guards with biometric tests to check the legality of migrants’ employment in order to allay French concerns about the underground economy. London and Paris have been trying to sign an agreement on the return of migrants for many years, but France’s concerns about the possibility of illegal employment in Britain have prevented an agreement from being reached.
According to British officials, the breakthrough in negotiations was due to the abandonment of the controversial deportation scheme to Rwanda, the personal relationship between Macron and Starmer, and London’s willingness to finance tighter controls on the French coast. The final details — the amount of funding, the launch date and the scope of the system — continued to be discussed ahead of the press conference.
Paris is also concerned about the risk of possible legal challenges to the new boat interception practice, which could be brought before French courts. Earlier, the NYT reported that Macron and Starmer would hold their first bilateral meeting at this level since Brexit in London.
Earlier, French law enforcement agencies had adopted a new practice to combat illegal migration, starting to damage boats used to cross the English Channel to Britain. More than 400 migrants arrived in Britain after crossing the English Channel in small boats, despite the French police tightening controls. This brings the total number of migrants for the year to 17,817.
