French Interior Minister Darmanin Cancels Talks With UK's Patel as BoJo Publishes Letter to Macron

© REUTERS / HENRY NICHOLLSMigrants onboard a Border Force rescue boat wait to disembark at Dover harbour, after having crossed the channel, in Dover, Britain, November 24, 2021
Migrants onboard a Border Force rescue boat wait to disembark at Dover harbour, after having crossed the channel, in Dover, Britain, November 24, 2021 - Sputnik International, 1920, 26.11.2021
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The UK prime minister previously stated that France should take back the migrants that had crossed the English Channel to resolve the issue on the border and proposed to establish joint patrols to stop the influx of illegal migrants.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has cancelled a meeting with his British counterpart Priti Patel following the publication of a letter by PM Johnson addressing migration issues.
The meeting in question was set to be held in Calais, France, on Sunday with Belgian, British, Dutch, French, and German ministers participating in it.

"We consider the British prime minister's public letter unacceptable and counter to our discussions between partners", Darmanin said in a statement. "As a result, Priti Patel is no longer invited".

Darmanin called Johnson's statements "disappointing" and added that making the letter public was "even worse".

"That letter was formally poor and its content inappropriate", French government spokesman Gabriel Attal told BFMTV.

In the three-page text, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed Home Secretary Patel's invitation to the migration summit in Calais and proposed a bilateral readmission agreement that would allow illegal migrants who cross the English Channel to be returned to France. According to the PM, London and Paris should deepen work on the Joint Intelligence Cell to ensure they have all the data needed to boost arrests and prosecutions.
He also proposed several measures to stop the traffic, which included establishing "joint patrols to prevent more boats from leaving French beaches" starting next week, creating "reciprocal airborne surveillance" in the area, as well as deploying radar and ground sensors to stop the crossings.
The letter was published after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the Channel on Wednesday, claiming 27 lives. At least five traffickers were arrested by the French authorities in connection with the tragedy.
© AFP 2023 / BEN STANSALLWaleed (3L), 29, a Kuwaiti migrant, stands with other migrants onboard the DHB Dauntless tug boat as they are brought to shore by the UK Border Force after illegally crossing the English Channel from France on a dinghy on September 11, 2020, in the marina at Dover, on the south coast of England
Waleed (3L), 29, a Kuwaiti migrant, stands with other migrants onboard the DHB Dauntless tug boat as they are brought to shore by the UK Border Force after illegally crossing the English Channel from France on a dinghy on September 11, 2020, in the marina at Dover, on the south coast of England - Sputnik International, 1920, 26.11.2021
Waleed (3L), 29, a Kuwaiti migrant, stands with other migrants onboard the DHB Dauntless tug boat as they are brought to shore by the UK Border Force after illegally crossing the English Channel from France on a dinghy on September 11, 2020, in the marina at Dover, on the south coast of England
Addressing the incident, London said on Thursday that Paris is responsible for the accident, while Darmanin stated that "there is bad immigration management" in Britain.
At least 25,700 people have made the cross-Channel journey in small boats this year, according to the British agency PA Media. This is three times more than all of the crossings in 2020.
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