Britain and Germany pledged on Tuesday to share intelligence and expertise in the fight against gangs ferrying migrants across the English Channel in small boats, in the latest attempt by European countries to stop the dangerous journeys, ABC News reports.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and her German counterpart, Home Secretary Nancy Faeser, signed a “joint action plan” at a meeting in London. The UK said that under the agreement, Germany would make it a specific offence for Germany to facilitate the smuggling of migrants into the UK. Many of the rubber boats used to ferry migrants across the Channel are stored in Germany.
“The criminal gangs who organise dangerous small boats across the channel that undermine our border security, that put lives at risk, are also the same gangs that are operating in Germany, that are operating right across Europe and beyond,” Cooper said. “Law enforcement needs to operate across borders as well.”
Feser said co-operation would include “maintaining a high level of investigative pressure, sharing information as much as possible between our security agencies and continuously investigating financial flows to identify criminals operating behind the scenes.”
Both countries also said they would work to remove migrant smuggling material from social media platforms, where many smuggling gangs advertise their services.
The ministers signed the agreement ahead of a meeting in London of the “Calais Group” which includes Britain, Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, as well as the European Union’s police and border services, Europol and Frontex.
The United Kingdom’s centre-left government is trying to rebuild law enforcement and intelligence links with the UK’s neighbours after the country leaves the EU in 2020. Brexit has complicated international co-operation by taking the UK out of Europol and the intelligence sharing mechanism.
Despite French and UK efforts to tackle migration, the trans-Channel route remains a major smuggling corridor for people fleeing conflict or poverty. Many migrants choose the UK because of language, family ties or perceived easier access to asylum and work.
This year, more than 31,000 migrants have crossed one of the world’s busiest sea routes, more than in the whole of 2023, although less than in 2022. UK officials say more than 70 people have died this year in attempts to cross the canal, making 2024 the deadliest year since the number of crossings began rising in 2018.
