France rejects joint patrol with UK

Published: 02/12/2021 – 21:53

In a letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, December 2, French Prime Minister Jean Costex rejected his plan for a “joint patrol” on French soil to prevent the departure of immigrants to Great Britain.

Jean Costex writes in the text, “We have always agreed to explore and discuss goodwill British proposals to strengthen cooperation. We have accepted some of them and rejected some of them.”

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“For example, we cannot accept British police or soldiers patrolling our shores; that is our sovereignty,” he said.

Boris Johnson presented the plan during a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on November 25, when 27 people were killed in a shipwreck on the Channel.

“It’s not serious”

It was also included in a letter from the British Prime Minister to the President of France, which was released by the British Government, which has hurt the city of Paris and created a new crisis between the two countries. In his letter, Boris Johnson proposed to France a “bilateral review agreement allowing all illegal immigrants crossing the channel”.

“The withdrawal of immigrants is not an option for us, it is not a serious or responsible way to approach the issue,” one source told AFP in Matignon anonymously.

>> Read more: “Mariam, 24, was the first victim of the drowning of immigrants on the channel”

“Every day, more than 700 police and guards inspect Opal Beach to prevent makeshift boats from going to sea,” Jean Costex wrote in his letter. “Some of these activities are being carried out in accordance with our cooperation agreements, with the financial contribution of your government,” he recalled.

“However, these efforts only make it possible to control the event and provide a lasting response,” he said, calling on the United Kingdom to pursue and open a “more effective return policy”.Ways of legal immigration For those who have good reason to want to go to this country.

With AFP and Reuters