France invited representatives of EU partners to participate in a multilateral ministerial meeting on the 28th to discuss how to solve the smuggling of immigrants in the English Channel, but turned Britain across the Strait away. British officials proposed a separate “meeting” plan, emphasizing that the fight against smuggling requires French cooperation.
Ministers in charge of immigration of the Governments of France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium and representatives of the European Union met in the afternoon of the port city of Calais in northern France to discuss how to combat human smuggling networks. An aide to French Interior Minister Gérard Dalmanen said that the human smuggling network “operates in many European countries” and the purpose of the meeting was to promote greater cooperation among relevant parties.
A STOWAWAY BOAT SET OUT FROM THE NORTHERN PORT CITY OF DUNKERK IN FRANCE ON THE 24TH TO TRY TO CROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL TO ENGLAND. ON ITS WAY, IT SANK IN THE WATERS NEAR CALAI, KILLING 27 PEOPLE. After the incident, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to cooperate to prevent similar incidents. France invited officials from many countries, including British Home Secretary Pritty Patel, to discuss this issue. However, Johnson wrote to Macron on the 25th, proposing solutions, including receiving all illegal immigrants smuggled into the UK from France, British law enforcement patrolling beaches in northern France, etc., and posting the content of the letter on social media. France was enraged and announced that Patel would no longer be welcome to the meeting.
Patel posted on social media on the 28th that he would invite his European colleagues to urgently discuss the crackdown on smuggling. In addition, she commented in the British Sun on the same day, expounding the need for joint action.” I’m sorry that I didn’t attend the European Ministerial Officials Meeting today to discuss this urgent issue,” she wrote. “Unite, we can fight down human smuggling gangs and save lives, but we must take action now.”
British Health Secretary Said Javid told Sky News on the 28th: “We all need to do everything possible to break the trading patterns of these traffickers, which means working closely with our friend France… Our policy is very clear: these (smuggling) ships must be stopped. We can’t act alone. We really need the cooperation of France.
Jared also defended Johnson, saying that the latter’s advice to Macron was “what we need to do” and he thought Johnson’s “right” to make Macron public.
The Associated Press reported that although the UK said that Britain and France were “still close friends and partners”, the differences between the two countries in immigration, fishing and how to reshape their relations after Brexit the European Union were becoming increasingly obvious. The shocks caused by Britain’s “Brexit” at the economic, political, social and spiritual levels have made it more difficult for British-French cooperation and complicated the relationship between the two countries.
