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IMMIGRATION

French mayor tells UK’s Boris Johnson to ‘calm down’ over migrant crossings

The mayor of the French port city of Calais on Thursday told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to "calm down" and change strategy in dealing with migrants crossing from France.

French mayor tells UK's Boris Johnson to 'calm down' over migrant crossings
Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart. Photo: AFP

“I consider Boris Johnson's pronouncements to be a provocation,” said Natacha Bouchart, mayor of the town which is a main embarcation point for the small, overcrowded migrant boats seeking to cross the English Channel this summer.

“I say clearly, that it's a declaration of maritime war since it is out of the question for naval ships to enter (French) territorial waters,” she told AFPTV.

Britain's right-wing Conservative Party government has looked to increase pressure on France to prevent migrants coming into UK waters.

Interior Minister Priti Patel and French counterpart Gerald Darmanin signed an agreement last month creating a new joint police intelligence unit to combat migrant traffickers, but it is unclear whether this has had any impact.

Britain's interior ministry has also made a formal request for the Royal Navy to help, but campaigners warn any military intervention to stop boats could be dangerous and may face legal challenges.

The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that officials were planning for naval and border force vessels to pick up the migrants and take them directly back to northern France.

French officials insist France is doing all it can, with additional security forces deployed, to prevent the crossings. But they acknowledge the numbers have increased sharply this year.

Since January 1st, authorities in northern France have recorded around 350 attempts or crossings involving over 4,000 migrants, compared with 203 attempts and 2,294 migrants for the whole of 2019.

The Calais mayor on Thursday said the problem was of Britain's own making.    

“If the migrants want to cross (the channel), it is because the British themselves put out the call. They have done so by failing to touch their legislation for 20 years,” she said.

“Therefore I appeal to Boris Johnson, saying you urgently need to calm down, and urgently need to change your methods of welcoming and dealing with migrants.”

Bouchart also had a message for Darmanin: “Do not give in, because the British don't know how to negotiate. It's only by standing firm that you achieve something.”

Johnson on Monday said illegal migrant crossings of the Channel, which have hit record numbers, were “very bad and stupid and dangerous”.

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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