France and Britain to sign deal on Calais migrant crisis

CALAIS, France - Agence France-Presse

French police patrol as migrants walk on a street near the makeshift camp called "The New Jungle" in Calais, France, August 19, 2015. Reuters Photo

France and Britain are to sign a deal on Aug. 20 aimed at alleviating the migrant crisis in Calais, where thousands of people desperate to cross the Channel have gathered in slum-like conditions.

The northern French port has hit headlines as migrants make attempt after attempt to enter the Channel Tunnel to reach Britain, some paying for it with their lives.
 
Some 3,000 people from Africa, the Middle East and Asia are camped in Calais attempting to get to Britain, where many already have family and work is perceived as easier to find, by any means necessary.    

At least 10 people have been killed since June trying to make the crossing.
 
While France and Britain have tried to present a united front in tackling the crisis, the issue has strained ties between the two.
 
Politicians in Britain have accused France of security failings, while London has been slammed by Paris for making it too easy for migrants to work illegally, thus luring them to its shores.
 
The accord, which will be signed in Calais by France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and his British counterpart Theresa May, will focus on securing the area.
 
As part of the deal, the Home Office said on Aug. 20 that British police officers will be deployed to Calais to combat gangs smuggling the migrants across the Channel.
 
Led by one British and one French senior commander, they will work alongside their French counterparts in a "Command and Control Centre", the ministry said ahead of May's visit to the ferry port.    

The deal includes extra French policing units, additional freight searches, and making the railhead in Calais more secure through fencing, security cameras, flood lighting and infrared detection technology.
 
It will also provide a boost to humanitarian assistance for the migrants in a bid to ease the desperate conditions in Calais.
         
Keith Vaz, who chairs a parliamentary body scrutinising the work of May's ministry, welcomed the agreement but warned there was already evidence of greater "illegal activity" at other Channel ports in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
 
"Closing off one route will only mean the problem moves to another port," he said.
 
"We need agreements with countries across the north coast to stop this situation developing before we see Calais-like crises spring up at ports across the continent."  

Britain has pledged 22 million (31 million euros, $34 million) so far towards improving security at the French end of the Channel Tunnel.
 
And Prime Minister David Cameron promised "more fencing, more resources, more sniffer dog teams" to aid French police in their nightly efforts to prevent the migrants getting through.
 
Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel said earlier this week that the number of migrants trying to break into the undersea rail link in Calais had fallen to around 150 a night, down from a high of 2,000 at the end of July.
 
After signing the deal, Cazeneuve will travel to Berlin to meet his German counterpart Thomas de Maiziere, who announced earlier this week that Germany expects to receive a new record of 800,000 asylum-seekers this year -- far more than the 500,000 initially expected.
 
Germany, as Europe's biggest economy, has become the top destination for refugees. Berlin has struggled to accommodate a wave of asylum-seekers from war zones such as Syria but also from countries without military conflict in southeastern Europe, including Albania, Serbia and Kosovo.
 
De Maiziere called on Aug. 19 for the European Commission to act against member states not taking responsibility for the crisis, while Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Aug. 16 that the issue could become a bigger challenge for the European Union than the Greek debt crisis.
 
EU border agency Frontex on Aug. 18 reported a record high of 107,500 migrants at the European Union's borders last month.
 
And the number of migrants arriving in crisis-hit Greece is accelerating dramatically, with nearly 21,000 landing on the overstretched Greek islands last week alone, the United Nations said.