On Tuesday, September 3, 12 people drowned in the English Channel after their makeshift boat sank while trying to reach the UK. Emotions ran high. The authorities blamed smugglers. NGOs blamed governments. And everything continued as before.
The UK has never belonged to the Schengen area and is no longer part of the European Union (EU). France is obliged to protect the Schengen area's external borders against migratory flows from the UK... which are a non-existent issue. The French government is actually preventing migrants from leaving the Schengen area, something which is not part of its mission.
The UK has managed to export its border to France, where our 1,700 police officers and gendarmes deployed along the coast work as "auxiliary" border guards for His Gracious Majesty. It's a label they could do without, all the more because the British media never stop vilifying their work.
A 'wall' on the continent
One radical solution would be to make the British shoulder their responsibilities, by denouncing the Le Touquet agreements (2003) and leaving it to them to protect their border on their own soil. Without going that far – although the idea is defensible – it would be fair for the British to get involved in the management of migratory flows beyond funding schemes to erect a "wall" on the continent, something which is constantly bypassed. After blocking access to their island at the port of Calais and the entrances to the Sangatte tunnel, they now have to deal with migrants crossing the English Channel.
Departing from various points along the coast, the 30,000 to 40,000 people arriving annually by this route are a drop in the bucket of the 1.2 million migrants who reportedly arrived in the UK in 2023. It is the emphasis placed on these arrivals, due to a deliberately closed border and the relentless efforts of certain media, that is creating the problem. UK entry into the Schengen area, like Switzerland's, would solve the problem.
When I was Prefect of the Pas-de-Calais [in northern France], I had to deal with the Sangatte camp, which was set up for 200 people and ended up housing 1,700, all hoping to make it through the port of Calais or the Sangatte tunnel. Devotedly managed by a weary Red Cross, the camp was like a powder keg. [Former French President] Nicolas Sarkozy, then minister of the interior, decided to close it in 2002. The UK government, under constant pressure from the tabloids and all too happy with the decision, took in 1,400 camp occupants without a fuss, the other 300 being welcomed by France.
You have 59.7% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.