The UK faces having no migrant returns deal with any EU nation after its one-in-one out deal with France expires in two weeks time and the bloc moves to tighten its own borders.
France had suggested the “one in, one out” migrant deal with Britain could become a Europe-wide agreement. But it is facing resistance to this idea from other EU governments wary of taking responsibility for Channel crossings, officials have warned.
Paris wants the bilateral scheme, under which Britain can return small-boat arrivals to France in exchange for accepting asylum seekers through legal routes, replaced by an agreement between Britain and the entire EU.
Laurent Nuñez, the French interior minister, has argued that France should not shoulder the burden alone and has told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that the pilot scheme was not intended to continue beyond October 1.
But France’s proposal is set to run into headwinds in Brussels, particularly from southern European countries that already receive large numbers of migrants entering the EU.
France had long argued that the Channel was a European problem because many of those reaching northern France had previously travelled through countries including Germany, Italy and Spain. However, other governments see the priorities differently.
“Focus in Europe should be on stemming the flow”
“There is an increasing group of countries that believe that the focus of Europe should not be on doing one one-on-one agreements,” a senior EU official said. “It should be on stemming the flow into Europe.”
An EU-wide redistribution arrangement would be a “hard sell” to countries including Italy, Spain, Germany and Poland, the official added.
An EU member state source said: “I don’t see this happening anytime soon because the focus of many EU countries is on implementing our own EU migration pact, agreed before summer.
“There is no apetite to start something new, that has no immediate political advantage in the EU countries.”
Small-boat crossings have become a staple of Britain’s discussions with its European neighbours, and when Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Downing Street last week, they agreed to “scale up” efforts to tackle illegal migration.
The political pressure remains intense even though the numbers are falling. Channel crossings are down more than 40 per cent this year, while attempted irregular crossings leaving the EU along the Channel route were down 44 per cent.
The government has pointed to this as evidence that its policing deal with France is successfully disrupting small boat launches. It has signed a further deal with Belgium to target small boats gangs.
Gangs turning to larger dinghies
But spectacular incidents involving increasingly large “mega-dinghies” have kept the issue near the top of the British political agenda. A record 230 people reached Britain in a single vessel in August.
Brussels has already moved towards greater cooperation. In June, the European Commission unveiled a Channel action plan covering the entire migration route, from countries of origin to northern Europe.
It focuses on disrupting smuggling gangs, strengthening border management and increasing returns, with Britain described as a “key partner”.
Yet the emphasis is markedly different from France’s proposed EU-wide one-for-one scheme.European governments have become increasingly focused on preventing migrants entering the bloc in the first place.
This summer’s renewed crisis around Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, alongside continuing pressure on the EU’s eastern and south-eastern frontiers, reinforced nervousness about Europe’s external borders.
As one EU diplomat put it, governments may question spending scarce resources controlling who leaves European territory before ensuring they have control over who arrives.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
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