An unpredictable escalation, then the tear: between France and Great Britain the tension is growing by the hour. First with scornful statements and out-of-the-way responses, then with Paris's decision to
withdraw the invitation to the London Minister of the Interior for the migrant summit in Calais
. The shipwreck with the death of 27 desperate people who left the French coast to pursue the dream of landing in England caused a very serious crisis between London and Paris. With French fishermen who, meanwhile, continue to protest post-Brexit working conditions and block ports and tunnels under the Channel.
Paris has judged "inadmissible" a letter issued by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson,
in which France is asked to "resume"all immigrants
landing on British soil
. The letter made the French leaders jump, first the government spokesman Gabriel Attal who called it "arid and out of place", then Macron - at a press conference alongside Mario Draghi in Rome for the signing of the Quirinal Treaty - complained lack of seriousness on the other side of the Channel: "You do not communicate with tweets or letters" in the face of such serious facts, he complained.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had taken steps - with a sensational gesture - to withdraw the invitation to his English colleague, Priti Patel, for a mini summit on migrants convened for Sunday in the city that symbolizes the tragedy, Calais. There will be Belgian, German, Dutch ministers and the representative of the European Commission on immigration.
At the moment the British remain out, also because Johnson increased the dose in the afternoon by not expressing any regret for the letter that infuriated Paris. For his spokesperson, on the contrary, it was written "in a spirit of partnership and cooperation" with France: "This is a global challenge - added the spokesman - to which we must respond collectively, with the French and our other European partners ". Not even Darmanin retraced his steps, on the contrary he explained that if the letter represents "a disappointment", the decision to publish it is "even worse".
The painful situation of migrants, now increasingly in difficulty given that even their camps are continually being dismantled in the north of France and also around Paris, has been the subject of tension between the two countries for years.
The British Conservative government has made the fight against immigration one of its flagships, making harsh gestures and statements of principle after Brexit.
Nonetheless, migrants continue to arrive in the hundreds on the south coast of England.
France, for its part, refuses to be cornered as a scapegoat and calls on its partners and neighboring countries.
