Uk-France, beating between Macron and Johnson on the English Channel. Here because
France and the United Kingdom are also at loggerheads on immigration across the Channel. All the details in the in-depth analysis by Daniele Meloni
Ah, les anglais . With one of the most typical gestures of his presidency, Emmanuel Macron canceled the UK-France summit on migrants after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson published a letter on his social channels – intended for the Elysée tenant – in which he listed a point for I point out the actions that France would have liked to take to stop the arrival of migrants in Dover.
This is the latest act of a controversy that has affected fisheries policies and, of course, Brexit, between the two countries, also signatories, years ago, of an ambitious bilateral agreement at Lancaster House in London. Then it was in the days of David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, a geological era ago in politics and, above all, an era in which France and the United Kingdom cooperated with pleasure (often even to the detriment of Italy, see the Libya case).
Thus, at the immigration summit on Sunday in Calais, the interior ministers of Belgium, Holland, Germany and the representative of the European Commission will be present, but not the UK interior minister, Priti Patel. This was announced by his French counterpart, Gérald Darmanin. With his anti-British stance, the French president strengthens his position as head of the EU, or at least his ambition in that direction, and creates internal problems for a Johnson already under fire on the immigration issue. Of course, a controversy with France could be a godsend for the British Prime Minister, but it will be necessary to see whether chauvinism will prevail in the British public opinion or the perception that the problems on the Channel and the landings in Dover will continue without the Tory government did nothing to stop them.
The casus belli occurred on the night between Wednesday and Thursday when a dinghy – a rubber boat – capsized in British waters, killing 27 immigrants, including 3 children. London quickly accused Paris of not doing enough to stop the boats coming from Calais and clamored for more cooperation between the two countries. In the letter published on his social media channels – and defined as "unacceptable" by the Elysée – Johnson asked France to jointly patrol French beaches to prevent the departure of the boats; the use of technologies such as radar and sensors to trace their path; the use of aerial surveillance; and, finally, the joint use of the two intelligence units to put an end to the dramatic problem of smugglers and merchants of men.
After flexing their muscles in the "scallop war," and sending each other threats, Johnson and Macron do not seem to want to retreat in the controversy between the two countries. Both leaders wink at the home front: Johnson to recover consensus against the brexiteers who voted him to regain control of migration policies with the cry of "Let's take back control"; Macron because next spring he will present himself to an electorate which, as the electoral campaign already in full swing demonstrates, has moved further and further to the right and is increasingly nationalist.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/francia-regno-unito-crisi-manica/ on Fri, 26 Nov 2021 09:01:42 +0000.