The United Kingdom announced on Monday March 4 that it was leading a new customs partnership with France intended to disrupt the supply chain of small boats used by smugglers for illegal migrant crossings across the Channel.
This initiative was at the heart of a meeting, Monday in Brussels, of the “Calais group”, where, according to London, the British Interior Minister, James Cleverly, spoke with representatives of France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, in the presence of the European Commission and its agencies.
“The UK and France will lead a new customs partnership, which they have invited other members of the Calais Group to discuss in detail in April,” the British Home Office said in a statement. It is an “initiative to work with countries along the supply chain” of components, which “will build on the effective work already being done to prevent the departure of small craft from the north of the France “.
“Breaking the economic model” of smugglers
Participating countries will thus be able to “share information more effectively to disrupt shipments of small boat components” and fight against these dangerous crossings, which have left two people dead in recent days, including a 7-year-old girl.
“Working closely with our European neighbors is fundamental to resolving the illegal immigration crisis,” said James Cleverly in a statement, for whom this new partnership demonstrates London’s commitment to “breaking the economic model” of smugglers and “ stop the boats”, declared priority of the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.
Since the start of the year, 2,006 migrants have made the crossing, according to a count by Agence France-Presse based on official data, after 30,000 in 2023 and a peak of 45,000 in 2022.
