London and Paris have agreed on the "urgency" of increasing their joint efforts to combat "deadly" crossings of the English Channel by migrants attempting to reach England from France after the shipwreck which caused at least 31 deaths.
Downing Street announced it. In the course of a telephone call, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron "agreed on the urgent need to increase their joint efforts to prevent these crossings and do everything possible to stop traffickers who endanger the lives" of the migrants, a spokesperson said.
But the French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin attacked the London government for the mismanagement of the phenomenon: "Great Britain - he said - must implement a labor reform in order to improve the management of illegal immigration".
On the other hand, Boris Johnson has pointed the finger at Paris, asking the French government to "do more" against the surge in the flow of migrants to the UK.
At least 31 people died yesterday (among them women and a child) in the sinking of a makeshift boat that, which left Calais, in the north of France, was trying to reach England: "The Channel, like the Mediterranean, is transforming it into an open-air cemetery ”, is the cry of alarm launched by the NGOs.
It is the most tragic shipwreck since - in 2018 - moving from France to Great Britain became an almost suicidal undertaking, with the armoring of the port of Calais and the Channel Tunnel, for years the preferred escape route for refugees and migrants.
It seems that about fifty people were crammed aboard the boat in adverse weather conditions, both for the sea and for the temperature around zero.
The prosecutor has opened an investigation for help with illegal entry and aggravated manslaughter: five smugglers were arrested.
But the crossings do not stop: despite the bad weather conditions, two boats with about 40 migrants on board arrived in Dover this morning.
(Unioneonline / L)
