Gérald Darmanin assured him on Monday, "there will be no questioning of the Touquet agreements".
A few days after the worst migratory tragedy in the Channel last Wednesday, the opposition of all political stripes nevertheless calls for the abolition or renegotiation of this arrangement signed between France and the United Kingdom under Jacques Chirac, which sets the rules in terms of control migration in the English Channel.
What is it exactly?
Entered into force on February 1, 2004, the Touquet agreements basically provide for checks on French soil of travelers to the United Kingdom to be carried out by the British and vice versa. This is the reason why there are English police officers at Gare du Nord in particular. But faced with ever-increasing migratory pressure on the English border, these agreements have been hardened over time. First, the border between France and the United Kingdom was moved to the French coast, which explains why camps like the Calais Jungle have sprung up in the north of France.
Controls have also been stepped up in ports and at Eurotunnel, the traditional crossing points for migrants.
And in recent years the French gendarmes have further tightened controls, the United Kingdom committing in exchange to pay financial compensation to France.
Readmission agreement
Across the Channel, we advocate an even more radical treaty.
In a letter addressed to Emmanuel Macron and published the day after Wednesday's dramatic sinking, Boris Johnson proposed to France to sign “a bilateral readmission agreement”, on the model of those established between the European Union and Turkey or Belarus, for example.
Such an arrangement would oblige the French to collect all migrants attempting the crossing.
My letter to President Macron.
pic.twitter.com/vXH0jpxzPo
- Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 25, 2021
But this solution poses a problem, particularly from a legal standpoint.
"What the United Kingdom is proposing constitutes a violation of international law, because asylum seekers must be able to submit their requests which must be studied," recalls Édouard Simon, director of research at IRIS and specialist in European issues.
Read also Shipwreck of migrants: escalating tensions between France and the United Kingdom
The letter also provoked the fury of Emmanuel Macron and the beginning of a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
The British Prime Minister seems to have since backpedaled, stressing the need to "deepen" bilateral cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration.
Who wants to revise them and why?
In France, the revision of the Touquet agreements is an old catchphrase and Boris Johnson's declaration not only annoyed the Elysee. “We are not meant to be the gatekeepers of England, to persecute people nor to push them to unreasonable acts to cross. I will denounce the Touquet agreements ”, tackled Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Like the leader of La France insoumise, other presidential candidates, such as Olivier Faure and Yannick Jadot, gave their point of view on the text signed in 2003 between Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair.
On the right Xavier Bertrand questioned Boris Johnson on the CNews set on Sunday, asking him to "recover his border".
"I want to denounce the Touquet agreements and if Mr. Macron does not have the courage to do so, I will do so as soon as I take office," he assured.
Words also repeated this Tuesday morning by the candidate for the LR nomination on the set of BFMTV.
Are we going to accept other tragedies in the Channel?
It is time for this to end!
We have to give the British back their border.
If the French trust me, I will denounce the Touquet accords.
#LeGrandRDV pic.twitter.com/7wYcJ079Nw
- Xavier Bertrand (@xavierbertrand) November 28, 2021
Michel Barnier, for his part, announced his intention to "overhaul the Touquet agreements" if he is elected.
France can indeed "at any time request the opening of consultations with the aim of revising, in the light of new circumstances or new needs, the provisions of the treaty", one can read in the Official Journal.
"We would have the legal possibility to withdraw from this agreement", confirms Édouard Simon.
“But it is above all an electoral campaign argument for the opposition.
"
What does the government want to do?
Gérald Darmanin therefore said Monday not only that there would be "no questioning" of the Touquet agreements and refused to hear about "a simple readmission agreement".
We need an “agreement between the European Union and Great Britain”, on the other hand, pleaded the Minister of the Interior.
It will be "an agreement that regulates work between Great Britain and border countries in an immigration framework not negotiated during Brexit," he said.
Read alsoWhy do so many migrants dream of joining the United Kingdom?
Earlier, Gérald Darmanin had called on the United Kingdom to open up “legal access to immigration”.
One of the few concrete solutions that has emerged from the public debate for Édouard Simon.
"One could imagine, for example, access to the United Kingdom for unaccompanied minors who have a parent there," says the researcher.
"But in a pre-electoral context, these arguments are less selling than a standoff with the British," he adds.
Jean Castex is expected to write today to his British counterpart to present him with a proposed agreement.