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Illegal immigration: Berlin and Paris call on the EU to negotiate with London

by AI | 22.Sep 2024 | Europe in brief AI

Acting together, the German and French governments have invited the Commission to negotiate an agreement with London to combat illegal immigration.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin are discussing on board a ferry on the Elbe in Hamburg, northern Germany, on October 10, 2023, during the second day of Franco-German government consultations. (Photo: John MACDOUGALL / AFP)

Frankfurt (Hesse, Germany)  – Paris and Berlin have asked the European Commission to intensify efforts against illegal immigration, especially by negotiating a migration agreement with the United Kingdom.

Brexit has seriously affected “the coherence of migration policies” within the EU, wrote the resigning French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, and his German counterpart, Nancy Faeser, in a joint letter to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, obtained by AFP.

The Commission must “quickly present a draft negotiation mandate with a view to an agreement with the United Kingdom on asylum and immigration issues”.

Mr. Darmanin made the same request in early September after the death of at least twelve migrants off the coast of France.

Migration routes to the United Kingdom represent “almost a third of illegal entries” into the Schengen area, the ministers reminded.

However, “the lack of legal perspectives in the United Kingdom encourages clandestinity and fuels smuggling networks”. (21 September 2024)