Berlin and Paris have called for an EU-wide agreement on migration and asylum with the UK government to take advantage of Labour’s more “constructive” approach to EU-UK relations, The Guardian reports.
In a letter to the EU home affairs commissioner, German interior minister Nancy Faeser and her former French counterpart Gérald Darmanin said Brexit had severely affected the “coherence of migration policy.” They wrote:
“The absence of provisions governing the flow of people between the UK and the Schengen area was clearly contributing to the dynamics of irregular flows and to the danger posed to people using this route in the Channel and the North Sea.”
Darmanin and Faeser called on the European Commission to “quickly” present a “draft negotiating mandate” for talks with the UK on asylum and migration. The letter stated:
“The arrival in office of a new British government, demonstrating its intention to cooperate constructively with the EU, seems to us to be conducive to concrete progress on this issue.”
France has long sought an EU-wide asylum pact with Britain, but Germany has so far not voiced such strong support. Darmanin, who was replaced last week in a French government reshuffle, has called for an EU-UK migration pact in 2021 but has failed to win the support of other member states.
The politics of an EU-UK migration deal could prove difficult for the Starmer government, which refugee charities have accused of adopting the Conservatives’ tough language and policies on asylum and migration. France wants British officials to process asylum claims in areas around French ports, a move rejected by previous Conservative governments who feared it would encourage more people to seek entry to the UK.
“The lack of legal routes into the UK ‘fuels smuggling networks,” the letter said.
This month alone, at least 20 people have died trying to cross the Channel in two separate incidents. British authorities estimate that more than 22,000 refugees and migrants have travelled to England via illegal Channel crossings this year.
The European Commission, which has previously rejected proposals for an EU-UK deal, declined to comment on the letter. Under the last Conservative government, when EU-UK relations were at a low point during tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson made it clear that a migration deal with the UK was not a priority, citing the “limited appetite” of EU member states.
