PARIS: France and the UK on Monday signed a new agreement to work together to stop migrants crossing the Channel to England in small boats, a source of huge bilateral tension.
Under the agreement, Britain will pay France $74.5 million (72.2 million euros) in 2022-2023 so that Paris can increase by 40 percent the numbers of security forces patrolling its northern beaches, the French interior ministry said.
This means some 350 additional members of the French security forces will be patrolling following the deal, signed in Paris by French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and British counterpart Suella Braverman.
London and Paris also pledged to use technological and human resources on the French coast to better detect, monitor and intercept boats.
They want to collect and use information, in particular from intercepted migrants, to better dismantle smuggling networks and deter crossings.
For the first time, teams of observers will be deployed on both sides of the Channel to “strengthen common understanding,” improve the debriefings of migrants and increase exchanges of information.
The deal comes after the UK government said on Sunday that more than 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to Britain so far this year, a new record.
The provisional total for this year stands at 40,885, most of them Albanians, Iranians and Afghans — well in excess of last year’s 28,561, the Ministry of Defense said.
The agreement reflected a new atmosphere in ties between the France and the UK since British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took the helm, after years of acrimony under his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Migration has been a particular bone of contention with London accusing Paris of not doing enough to stop migrants crossing the Channel, charges fiercely rejected by French officials.
Sunak and President Emmanuel Macron held a cordial first meeting last week on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Egypt and will meet again this week at the G20 in Indonesia.
They plan to hold a bilateral summit meeting focused on defense in early 2023.
On Saturday, some 972 people were detected making the perilous crossing in 22 boats, the UK government said.
The figures have been rising for years. Some 299 were detected making the crossing in 2018; 1,843 in 2019; and 8,466 in 2020, according to the UK.
The rising numbers have caused a logjam in asylum claims and increased accommodation costs estimated by the UK government at $7.8 million (£6.8 million) a day, straining local services and fueling public anger.
But refugee rights groups accuse the government of a callous and chaotic approach, after unsanitary conditions developed at one overcrowded asylum processing center in Manston, southeast England.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and British counterpart James Cleverly had in a joint statement on Friday “stressed the urgency of tackling all forms of illegal migration including small boats crossings and addressing their root causes.
ants and increase exchanges of information.
The deal comes after the UK government said on Sunday that more than 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to Britain so far this year, a new record.
The provisional total for this year stands at 40,885, most of them Albanians, Iranians and Afghans — well in excess of last year’s 28,561, the Ministry of Defense said.
The agreement reflected a new atmosphere in ties between the France and the UK since British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took the helm, after years of acrimony under his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Migration has been a particular bone of contention with London accusing Paris of not doing enough to stop migrants crossing the Channel, charges fiercely rejected by French officials.
Sunak and President Emmanuel Macron held a cordial first meeting last week on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Egypt and will meet again this week at the G20 in Indonesia.
They plan to hold a bilateral summit meeting focused on defense in early 2023.
On Saturday, some 972 people were detected making the perilous crossing in 22 boats, the UK government said.
The figures have been rising for years. Some 299 were detected making the crossing in 2018; 1,843 in 2019; and 8,466 in 2020, according to the UK.
The rising numbers have caused a logjam in asylum claims and increased accommodation costs estimated by the UK government at $7.8 million (£6.8 million) a day, straining local services and fueling public anger.
But refugee rights groups accuse the government of a callous and chaotic approach, after unsanitary conditions developed at one overcrowded asylum processing center in Manston, southeast England.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and British counterpart James Cleverly had in a joint statement on Friday “stressed the urgency of tackling all forms of illegal migration including small boats crossings and addressing their root causes.
France, UK sign new deal on thwarting migrant Channel crossings
https://arab.news/grurr
France, UK sign new deal on thwarting migrant Channel crossings
- Migration has been a particular bone of contention with London accusing Paris of not doing enough to stop migrants crossing the Channel
Philippine lawmakers start VP Duterte impeachment hearings
- The revived impeachment bid leans heavily on allegations that the younger Duterte misused public funds
MANILA: A Philippine congressional committee began impeachment hearings Monday that could dash Vice President Sara Duterte’s run for the country’s top job.
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who recently announced her candidacy for the 2028 presidential election, was impeached by the country’s House of Representatives last year only to see the Supreme Court toss the case out over procedural issues.
The revived impeachment bid leans heavily on allegations that the younger Duterte misused public funds while in office and will see the House justice committee debate three such complaints.
A fourth case was dropped by complainants who hoped to speed up the process.
Duterte also stands accused of making a death threat against her former ally and current President Ferdinand Marcos, with whom she is engaged in an explosive political feud.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a Senate trial. A guilty verdict would result in Duterte being barred from politics and sidelined from the 2028 presidential race.
The latest impeachment bid faces a changed environment with the vice president ahead in recent polls, analysts told AFP.
“The political context will be very different, especially now that Sara declared her candidacy,” University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco said.
“It’s definitely going to weigh on the minds of the members of the House of Representatives,” Franco said, adding that a vote for impeachment would effectively see a lawmaker’s career “marked for death.”
Anthony Lawrence Borja, an associate professor of political science at De La Salle University agreed saying: “It is ultimately a question of whether the patronage of the current administration outweighs their fear of Duterte’s condemnation.”
The same committee hearing the case against Duterte last month tossed out a pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos, ruling that allegations of corruption over a scandal involving bogus flood control projects lacked substance.
Michael Wesley Poa, spokesman for Duterte’s defense team, told AFP they were closely monitoring deliberations and trusted “the same standards” used in the Marcos hearing would be applied.
