France and the United Kingdom signed this Monday (14) an agreement worth € 72.2 million (R$ 397 million) to be spent on measures to prevent irregular migrants traveling through the English Channel, which separates the two countries in just 33 km at its narrowest point.
Last year, 28,526 people made the journey in small boats. In the first ten months of 2022 alone, the number has already reached a record 40,000, an increase of 40% so far.
The figures are a reflection that the moment is of worsening migratory crises on the continent, which led to a diplomatic rift between France and Italy, for example – Paris and London even had recent tensions, when Boris Johnson was still in power. , due to the subject.
Last week, the European Union reported that the number of asylum applications in the bloc in August hit a seven-year record, with 84,500 forms, up 16% from the previous month.
In the English Channel, voyages are almost always made towards the United Kingdom. As the mayor of Teteghem, a French town next to Dunkirk, told the BBC, migrants who are recovered and detained just keep trying to cross again. “They don’t want to stay in Belgium, Germany or France. They want to go to England,” reported Franck Dhersin.
The money from the agreement, which must be used from now on and during the next year, will allow a 40% increase in the number of French patrols on the beaches of Normandy and Hauts-de-France. It will also fund investments in surveillance technology, cameras, drones, police dogs and helicopters to detect and prevent irregular journeys.
Immigration is one of the pressure points of the administration of the new British prime minister, Rishi Sunak. He spoke on the subject this Monday, when he arrived in Bali, Indonesia, for the meeting of world leaders of the G20.
“I’m confident we can get those numbers down, but I also want to be honest with people in saying that it’s not a single measure that’s going to magically solve this. We won’t be able to do that overnight,” Sunak said.
The text was signed in Paris by the interior ministers of both countries. “It is in the interests of the UK and French governments to work together to solve this complex problem,” said Briton Suella Braverman alongside French Gérald Darmanin.
Last month, Braverman came under heavy criticism for declaring Britain was facing “an invasion” – a term rejected by migration experts. Activists have also pointed to the Conservative government over the revelation of poor conditions at a migration hub in the south of the country.
Also on Monday, the presidents of France, Emmanuel Macron, and of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, spoke by phone to try to put an end to the diplomatic crisis involving the same issue.
They agreed on the importance of maintaining good relations between the two neighbors and allies after harsh words from both sides about what to do with 230 migrants rescued by an Ocean Viking ship.
After being refused by Italy, the boat docked in Toulon, in Mediterranean France, last week. She went viral on the networks the photo of a boy on the boat, inside a cardboard box with an arrow drawn and the word France written on it.
Paris accused Rome of breaking a bond of trust and violating international laws on security for migrants, while Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called France’s reaction “incomprehensible and unjustified”.
According to the presidents’ teams, they “stressed the need to create the conditions for full cooperation in all areas, both bilaterally and within the European Union.”
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