The Uk remains a prisoner of its own imperial history in the Nineteenth century, when it was enough to send the Royal Navy to maintain the largest empire of all time. Faced with the massive influx of migrants crossing the English Channel, the Interior minister, Priti Patel, has found nothing better than to resort to the "diplomacy of gunboats" (gunboat diplomacy) to combat illegal crossings of the English Channel.
It is as well as a former officer of the commandos of the navy, Dan O Mahoney, was charged on August 9, " to make the English Channel impassable to the crossings of small boats ". To do this, the ex-Royal Navy intends to copy the australian example of intercepting the immigrants off the coast of Indonesia to shut them up and leave them to languish in camps in the islands of the Pacific – Nauru, New Guinea as far as possible from the island continent.
Adapted to the current situation, this policy is to keep migrants on the French coast. "A gesture symbolic devoid of meaning, vision, and doomed to failure ", says the Times, summing up the pessimism of the press as military circles as to the effectiveness of such a measure.
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The favourable weather conditions and calm seas have encouraged this resurgence through the clandestine Channel to the United Kingdom from the French coast. These attempts have multiplied in the last few days. Between one hundred and two hundred Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians, and Africans crossed the Channel each day, an influx of 650 people in August and to 4 100 since the beginning of the year, according to official figures.
The police, the immigration service and rescue at sea are overwhelmed, while the seaside resorts of the south coast are full in full tourist season. The authorities in Kent should take care of more than 500 unaccompanied minors. Health services fear an outbreak of coronavirus among the entrants. The detention centres crack under all their seams. Overwhelmed by the requests for asylum, the ministry of Interior is incapable of managing the number of cases of regularization, so that the struggle to prevent the Covid-19 to mobilize all the resources, financial and human of the kingdom.
France pointed the finger
For the government of Boris Johnson, the challenge of this crisis is significant. Including many pensioners with modest, the seaside resorts in the south-east of England are a solid conservative stronghold. The economic recession expected in the wake of the pandemic should hit hard southern England, a region with poor precarious employment and the high unemployment rate.
furthermore, these challenges come at a time when the Uk should leave the european Union at 31 December. However, the return to national sovereignty and the control of immigration are at the heart of the vulgate of the Brexit promised by the leader of the conservative government. Kent has voted 60 % in favor of the departure, well beyond the 52 % for the "Leave" on a national scale.
in The eyes of London, France is directly responsible for this situation does not stop the departures. Paris stresses its mobilization and supervision to prevent this sudden influx, as well as the commitment of the security forces against the networks of traffickers. "This phenomenon is a common problem in France and the United Kingdom which must be the subject of an operational response joint. France has started a dialog to set parameters for that, " says an official source in French.
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" France is a safe country. This is why I share the anger and frustrations of the public. The current situation is intolerable, " said secretary of State for immigration, Chris Philip. To listen the migrants concerned, primarily economic, must submit an application for asylum with the French authorities, instead of attempting the crossing.
This will be the message sent to his French colleagues at the emergency meeting convened Tuesday in Paris, at which should be discussed an increase in the number of police patrols along the beaches of the Pas-de-Calais. According to unconfirmed reports, Paris would claim in London an additional 30 million pounds (33.3 million euros) to finance the tightening of controls.
