Brussels examines whether the migration agreement between France and the United Kingdom respects EU rules
Brussels – The European Commission will “assess the specific modalities” of the newly announced agreement between France and the United Kingdom for the exchange of migrants who cross the English Channel irregularly to ensure it is compatible with community legislation.
“We continue to work with France and the United Kingdom, as well as with other member states, to support solutions that are compatible with the spirit and letter of EU law,” indicated the community spokesperson for Home Affairs and Migration, Markus Lammert, at a press conference.
Brussels, which has so far avoided commenting on the substance of the pact, requested explanations from London and Paris as early as the end of June regarding the project, after Spain and the other countries that make up the Med5 (Italy, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus) expressed their concerns about the bilateral negotiations in a letter to the community services.
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced the day before an agreement to launch a pilot project based on the principle of “one for one,” whereby France commits to accepting the return of one irregular migrant who has arrived in the United Kingdom in exchange for the British accepting one asylum seeker. According to Macron during the appearance in London, the agreement will first be subject to scrutiny by the European Commission and the member states before its signing.
“We are aware of the announcement from the United Kingdom and France,” stated Lammert, who clarified that for the moment they have very few details — “we have an announcement and a political agreement in principle for a pilot project” — and that they will comment when they know “more about the substance and the form” of what was announced in London.
“We will examine it together with the United Kingdom and France, we will work with all the parties involved,” concluded the spokesperson, who also wanted to emphasize that Brussels considers the “increase” in irregular crossings of migrants in the Channel to be “alarming.”
This situation, Lammert said, “deserves a robust response” to curb “dangerous” crossings from one of the European Union’s external borders, although he also added that the Commission will “assess the specific modalities of cooperation” between France and the United Kingdom.
When it received the letter from the Med5 countries in June, the community executive also pointed out the urgency for all EU countries to comply with the implementation of the Migration and Asylum Pact (which has a deadline of 2026) and with the current “fully applicable” rules, especially the Dublin rules (which require the country of entry of the migrant to manage the case). However, it avoided responding to whether, in the eyes of the community services, the bilateral deportation agreement between the British and the French is compatible with the framework established by the new migration pact. (July 11)
