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France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin
Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
The conflict between France and Great Britain over how to deal with migrants in the English Channel is coming to a head.
Now the French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has canceled a meeting with his British counterpart Priti Patel.
In a message to Patel that the AFP news agency received on Friday, he justified the rejection with a letter in which British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked French President Emmanuel Macron to take back migrants.
Darmanin wrote that the letter itself was a "disappointment" - the fact that Johnson had also made this letter public was "worse".
Instead, the responsible ministers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany are to meet on Sunday together with representatives of the EU Commission in Calais, northern France, now without British participation, as AFP learned from circles of the French interior ministry.
The Reuters news agency reported something similar.
Paris had previously announced that at the meeting with the other countries it would “determine ways and means to strengthen police, judicial and humanitarian cooperation” in order to “take better action against the smuggling networks”.
Great Britain hopes to rethink Paris
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has commented on France's reaction to Johnson's letter.
He hoped that in Paris they would reconsider whether they really wanted to unload Patel.
"No nation can do this alone, so I hope the French will reconsider," he told BBC News.
In his letter Thursday evening, Johnson Macron had said that taking back migrants would "significantly reduce - if not stop - crossings and save thousands of lives by fundamentally disrupting the business model of the criminal gangs behind the trafficking."
Johnson suggested greater cooperation with France, such as joint border patrols, aerial surveillance and the exchange of information.
"We are ready to begin patrols like this early next week," Johnson wrote in the letter he posted on Twitter.
Previously, Interior Minister Patel had spoken to her French counterpart, Darmanin, to present plans for greater "cooperation and innovation," as a statement said.
The two should therefore meet this weekend.
Patel also wanted to send officials to Paris after she offered to provide more staff on the ground to fight smugglers.
In the accident with the refugee boat in the English Channel, at least 27 people were killed on Wednesday, including seven women and three young people.
Two men survived.
The group had left Dunkirk in an inflatable dinghy that was deflating.
Shortly after the boat accident on Wednesday, tensions between France and Great Britain over the migration issue were already high again.
Johnson has long accused France of not doing enough against the rapidly increasing number of refugees who are crossing to England in simple boats.
The UK's exit from the EU has also made it more difficult for the British authorities to bring the newcomers back to EU countries.
asc / AFP / Reuters
