LONDON: Britain’s interior minister hit back Wednesday at President Emmanuel Macron after he said London must take responsibility for the deaths of migrants attempting to cross the Channel from northern France.
“Macron’s comments are wrong — they’re absolutely wrong,” Priti Patel told a panel of lawmakers in parliament.
The Conservative minister said more than 51,000 migrants tried to cross the Channel last year — a record — with over 28,000 reaching British waters or shores.
However, some journeys ended in tragedy — in November, 27 migrants drowned off France during an attempted crossing in a boat likened by French officials to a children’s inflatable pool.
Macron, who is expected to seek re-election in April, told a regional French newspaper Tuesday that Britain’s failure to establish a legal route to claim asylum in the country was in part responsible for the crisis.
“The moral responsibility for those who perish at sea does not lie with France, but with this British refusal to respond,” he told La Voix Du Nord.
He also accused London of “hypocrisy” in its immigration approach, due to 1980s-style economic policies that accept low-pay workers following illegal entry.
“We are hostages to an absurd and inhuman situation,” Macron added.
His comments follow several of his ministers making similar statements in recent months, as the increasing number of migrants crossing the Channel sours relations with Britain.
It has prompted an unseemly blame game, even as both sides try to disrupt the people trafficking networks, while also becoming a political headache for embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Nationality and Borders Bill, currently working its way through the London parliament, promises tougher action against people smugglers and, controversially, migrants themselves.
If passed, the bill, opposed by rights groups, will allow the return of asylum seekers who have passed through so-called “safe third countries.”
Meanwhile, ministers have paid short shrift to proposals to allow people to claim British asylum in northern France.
Asked about such plans, Patel said Wednesday they were “not viable.”
“It would not stop people making (the) dangerous crossing,” she added.
“That proposal will effectively make France a big magnet for more migrants to come.
“I don’t know how the French public feel about that... they have enough problems with camps and criminality and all sorts of issues taking place.”
UK minister Patel hits back at Macron over Channel crossings
https://arab.news/6m9sj
UK minister Patel hits back at Macron over Channel crossings
- “The moral responsibility for those who perish at sea does not lie with France, but with this British refusal to respond”: Macron
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
