He took advantage of a trip to the North to send messages across the Channel.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, this Saturday demanded the negotiation of a "treaty on migration issues" between the European Union and the United Kingdom on the occasion of a trip to Loon-Plage (North ) devoted to migrants, sources of regular tension between London and Paris.
"We must negotiate a treaty, since Michel Barnier did not do so when he negotiated Brexit, which binds us on migration issues," he criticized.
France will carry this project when it holds the six-monthly presidency of the EU in January, he promised.
The first cop in France also called on the British government to "keep its promise" by paying "the 63 million euros" promised to finance the strengthening of the French police on the coasts, in order to fight against migratory traffic. .
The question of these crossings is regularly the source of friction between London and Paris, which has recently crystallized on the financial question.
"We call on the British to keep their promise of funding, since we hold the border for them," he continued.
The United Kingdom pledged at the end of July to pay France 62.7 million euros in 2021-2022 to finance the strengthening of French law enforcement on the coasts.
UK toughens its voice against migrant smuggling
According to the British press, the British Minister of the Interior Priti Patel had however threatened in early September not to pay this sum, in the face of record arrivals of migrants crossing the Channel illegally. "France has held the border for our British friends for more than 20 years," insisted Gérald Darmanin. He recalled that "gendarmes have been hired in addition" and "technological means have been purchased to guard this border". "We have succeeded in greatly reducing the migratory pressure", he assured.
During this trip to Hauts-de-France, the Minister of the Interior also inaugurated a street in Hasnon (North) in the name of his grandfather, an Algerian rifleman during the Second World War.
He also stopped at the Moëres (North) rest area of the A16 motorway, not far from the Belgian border, to meet the border police and the gendarmerie "who carry out control operations on the main roads. to fight against illegal immigration, ”he wrote on social networks.
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A month ago, the British Home Secretary set fire to the powder by asking officials in her department to rewrite the United Kingdom's interpretation of international maritime law in order to allow the interception of ships carrying ships. migrants in the Channel.
In July, the United Kingdom announced that it wanted to increase to four years, from six months currently, the prison sentence incurred by migrants seeking to return illegally to the country.
Nearly 6,000 migrants crossed the Channel on board makeshift boats during these first six months of the year.
Last year, there were a total of 8,417 hoping to reach the British coast.