EU ministers met in Calais on Sunday to discuss how to prevent people from crossing the strait in small boats, but there is no British Home Secretary. Pritty PatelAfter a diplomatic dispute with France, his invitation was cancelled.
France has invited Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and European Commission The meeting last week was held after 27 people who wanted to apply for asylum in the UK died in a dangerous crossing.
After that incident, this was the biggest loss of life in the strait since the advent of the strait route, and the French government is seeking more European cooperation to combat human smuggling.
The French government said that five suspected smugglers arrested near the Belgian border last week purchased unspecified materials in Germany.People seeking to reach the UK often come France Find the shortest crossing point through Belgium.
Patel was originally scheduled to attend the meeting, but Cancelled invitation After Boris Johnson published his proposal to solve the problem in a letter to Emmanuel Macron, the proposal was posted on Twitter before the French president received it .
Macron said Johnson’s approach was “not serious.” The French government opposes the prime minister’s ideas, including the proposal to send all those who cross the English Channel back to France, and the fact that this letter was made public.
Relations between France and the United Kingdom have fallen to a low point, and disputes over Brexit fishing licenses and broader EU-UK relations are brewing.
As more details surfaced, so did diplomatic disputes. People killed in the strait last week. They include a 45-year-old woman from Darbandi Khan, a Kurdish town in Iraq, and her three children, a 22-year-old daughter and two 16- and 7-year-old sons.
France says it has saved 7,800 lives and arrested 1,500 human smugglers since the beginning of this year. The French government insists that a European solution is needed.
Also present at the meeting was Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, who invited representatives from the European Union border agency Frontex and the European Union police agency Europol.
EU member states can call on these agencies and emergency funding committees, personnel and equipment (such as drones) to patrol the border. Without the participation of the United Kingdom, the preferred destination for people camping in northern France, there is a limit to the consensus that can be reached.
Since Brexit, the UK No more choice Return the asylum seeker to the European Union. Under the EU’s Dublin system, member states can transfer asylum applicants back to the EU country where they arrived, or to another country where the person has a family relationship.
