Calais migrants: UK and France sign new treaty

Blackleaf

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France and the UK have signed a treaty to speed up the processing of migrants in Calais, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on his first UK visit.

After talks with UK PM Theresa May at Sandhurst Military Academy, he said the treaty would offer a "more humane approach" and be "more efficient".

But he suggested France would not bow to UK demands to include financial services in any post-Brexit trade deal.

Mrs May praised the "uniquely close relationship" between the two nations

Calais migrants: UK and France sign new treaty


19 January 2018
BBC News


Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron during a press conference at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst after the UK-France summit


France and the UK have signed a treaty to speed up the processing of migrants in Calais, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on his first UK visit.

After talks with UK PM Theresa May at Sandhurst Military Academy, he said the treaty would offer a "more humane approach" and be "more efficient".

But he suggested France would not bow to UK demands to include financial services in any post-Brexit trade deal.

Mrs May praised the "uniquely close relationship" between the two nations.

She said both leaders remained committed to the "Le Touquet" border agreement in Calais - the UK has announced an extra £44.5m to be spent on beefing up Channel border security.

Mr Macron said the Sandhurst Treaty signed on Thursday - the first joint treaty on the Calais border in 15 years - would "enable us to improve the relationship and the management of the joint border" and reduce the time taken to process migrants.

It would mean the time taken to process migrants hoping to come to the UK from Calais would be reduced from six months to one month for adults and 25 days for children.

It "will enable us both to have a more humane approach to these people and to be more efficient" while also encouraging trade through the Channel ports, said the president.

Mrs May said it was in Britain's national interest, as well as France's, to commit more resources to Calais security and stressed the two countries' joint commitments to defence and security measures.

She said a combined joint expeditionary force would be ready to deploy up to 10,000 troops "quickly and effectively to face any threat" by 2020.

And the prime minister said a multi-million pound deal to build 36 A380 passenger aircraft for Emirates Airlines had been signed by Airbus, which has plants in France and the UK.

She also confirmed that the Bayeux Tapestry will come to the UK in 2022 - a gesture President Macron said he hoped would "open a new chapter when it comes to our cultural co-operation and scientific co-operation".

"We are making a new tapestry together," he said.



The summit between Mrs May and Mr Macron, at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Berkshire, also featured the first meeting of the heads of Britain and France's five intelligence agencies, and is being attended by British cabinet ministers and their French counterparts.

And with Brexit very much on the agenda for both nations, Mr Macron said that the history between the two countries could not be "impacted by changes in institutions".

'Be my guest'


Challenged about his opposition to including financial services in any EU-UK free trade agreement, he said: "I am here neither to punish nor to reward. I want to make sure that the single market is preserved because that is very much the heart of the EU."

He said if the UK wanted access to the single market, including financial services, "be my guest. But it means that you need to contribute to the budget and acknowledge European jurisdiction".

New Channel 'link'?

Mrs May said she recognised that there would be "a different relationship in future" but added: "I think the City of London will continue to be a major global financial centre. That is an advantage not just for the UK, it's actually good for Europe and good for the global financial system."

Meanwhile Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has hinted at the prospect of a second crossing for the English Channel - tweeting: "Our economic success depends on good infrastructure and good connections. Should the Channel Tunnel be just a first step?"

A source close to the foreign secretary told the BBC that Mr Johnson had suggested to President Macron that a new "fixed link" between UK and France was needed.

Anglo-French co-operation



Other commitments include the deployment of three RAF Chinook helicopters in Mali, where French forces are fighting Islamist militants, and France sending more troops to reinforce a British contingent in Estonia on Nato's border with Russia.

Downing Street said the RAF Chinooks would offer a "niche capability", providing logistical support for the French operation in Mali, but that Britain would not be committing combat troops.

The border offer



During last year's French election campaign, Mr Macron said he wanted to renegotiate or scrap the 2003 Le Touquet agreement, which established French border controls in Britain and UK controls in Calais.

The agreement means undocumented migrants barred from entering the UK stay in France - many in makeshift camps. Up to 700 migrants are in the area, despite the camp known as the "Jungle" having been dismantled in 2016.

The UK government is already thought to have spent more than £100m on security in the area over the past three years, and officials said the number of illegal attempts to enter the UK fell from 80,000 in 2015 to just over 30,000 last year.

Other "juxtaposed" border controls are in operation at Eurostar stations in France and Belgium.

How the leaders shape up

By James Robbins, BBC diplomatic correspondent



Britain and France carry much the same weight in global affairs. Both sit at the world's most exclusive tables of power - the Security Council and the G7 - and the sizes of their populations and economies are broadly similar too.

But while President Macron commands France, including his parliament, after last year's stunning electoral successes the same cannot be said of Theresa May.

Sharp disagreements over the UK border with France are difficult to resolve. Mrs May has conceded extra money for border security in Calais - and has separately offered Chinook helicopters to move French troops more safely over Mali.

Mr Macron, meanwhile, has offered the loan of the Bayeux tapestry. But Brexit still threatens to overshadow all this bonhomie. When it comes to Europe, these two countries are pulling in radically different directions.


Calais migrants: UK and France sign new treaty - BBC News
 
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Blackleaf

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Oct 9, 2004
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Love the French!

I don't love May. At a time when the government keeps telling us it can't find enough money to pay for things like the Armed Forces she is suddenly able to find £44 million to give to the Frenchies to deal with migrants on THEIR side of the border. The migrants are on French soil and so should be a problem for France to deal with.

She also agrees to allow British military Chinooks to be sent to mali to move French troops to safer areas, because the French military has no such capabilities.

And what do the French give us in return? They are lending us the Bayeux Tapestry in 2022.

Theresa May and President Macron cement 'warm agreement' with group selfie



Theresa May posted the selfie on Twitter Credit: Twitter

Helena Horton
19 January 2018
The Telegraph

'Group selfies' taken and shared on Twitter are usually the preserve of Hollywood stars, but yesterday President Macron managed to take one with Theresa May.

The world leaders took the Oscars-style picture in order to hail Britain's ties with France.

Our Prime Minister posted the photograph, apparently taken at a glitzy reception at the Victoria and Albert Museum last night, on Twitter.

She wrote: "At the V&A last night Emmanuel Macron and I were proud to celebrate the extraordinary values and talented people who link our countries.

"More than a century on from the 'entente cordiale' let us celebrate our own 'entente chaleureuse'."

Entente chaleureuse translates to a warm agreement, and the entente cordiale was a series of agreements between the UK and France signed in 1904.



Theresa May ✔
@theresa_may

At the @V_and_A last night @EmmanuelMacron and I were proud to celebrate the extraordinary values and the talented people who link our countries. More than a century on from the “entente cordiale” let us celebrate our own “entente chaleureuse”. #UKFRsummit
7:37 AM - Jan 19, 2018

658 Replies 1,353 Retweets 4,672 Likes


They mingled last night with celebrities from cultural, sporting, business and science circles, including footballer Yohan Cabaye and rugby player Serge Betsen.

During their meetings, the two discussed the future of the relationship between the UK and France after Brexit.

Mrs May said that while the Government recognised that after Brexit the UK "will no longer be full members of the single market" she expected a mutually beneficial deal to be done.

“There will be a different relationship in future, a different balance of rights and responsibilities and we have been very clear about that," she said.


The two dined at a pub in Oxfordshire Credit: AP Photo/Francois Mori

“But I believe that it is actually in the interests not just of the United Kingdom but also of the European Union as it goes forward to continue to have a good economic relationship and partnership with the UK.

“I believe that should cover both goods and services. I think the City of London will continue to be a major global financial centre.”

Theresa May and President Macron cement 'warm agreement' with group selfie*

The real crime, Monsieur Macron, isn't Brexit — but beating up Britain over it

Asa Bennett
19 January 2018
The Telegraph


Emmanuel Macron and Theresa May face off in a pub car park Credit: Paul Grover

Britain's departure from the European Union has been tough for Emmanuel Macron. During his election campaign, he decried it as a "crime". As President, he seems to be doing everything he can to make sure Britain pays for it.

His Gallic charm during his visit this week could not conceal his desire to ostracise his British hosts. Leaving Theresa May in the lurch for 45 minutes before their working lunch was just the start of his nonchalance, bordering on froideur, towards his hosts. He insisted on extracting £44.5 million from the British in order to continue France's policing of the border at Channel ports under the Le Touquet treaty. But that wasn't all.

The possibility of Britain securing the terms of its transition out of the EU swiftly risk being scuppered, my colleague Peter Foster found, by "a constituency" in the EU "that believes this would give away our leverage far too easily and wants to keep the pressure on the Brits". Any doubts over who that "constituency" involved would have been quickly dispelled by Monsieur Macron, who made clear that he was in no mood to compromise.

"The choice is on the British side, not on my side," the President intoned. He stuck faithfully to Michel Barnier's opening position, namely that the British had to pay for full access to the single market, declaring: "It means that you need to contribute to the budget and acknowledge the European jurisdiction. Such are the rules." It would be "hypocrisy" to expect such access without accepting free movement, he warned Mrs May.

Monsieur Macron has previously described himself as a "hard Brexiteer", indicating that he would make sure Britain had as brusque an exit as possible to prove that it was – in his words – a "serious mistake". Yet his pro-EU zeal has inspired him to play with fire during the Brexit negotiations. If his intransigence drives the British away without a deal, such an outcome would backfire on France in a big way – as French politicians and officials fear.

The head of France's main opposition party, Laurent Wauquiez, has warned Monsieur Macron against "arrogance" in his dealings with Britain, and called for a tailor-made deal to be struck rather than one designed to "punish" us. The president of France's northern region, Xavier Betrand, has put on record his appreciation of the constructive manner with which British negotiators are trying to resolve things, in contrast to the EU line that it was "magical thinking". "We shouldn’t seek to punish the British," he told the FT. "I don’t want post-Brexit decisions that hurt cross-border regions."

A report by the EU's Committee of the Regions found palpable concern about Brexit fallout was felt even in President's own birthplace, the French region of Hauts-de-France. Just read what local official François Decoster reported:
"In the automotive sector, there are major concerns regarding future relations with the UK, particularly on the part of the car maker Toyota, which operates in the region. For example, 13 percent of Yaris exports in 2016 went to the U.K."
The French are jittery about where they may end up with Britain over fishing rights too, as Monsieur Decoster notes in writing about the importance of Boulogne-Calais, France's main fishing port:
“Along the region’s coastline nearly 170 small-scale and deep-sea fishing businesses produce a turnover of close to €80 million with a fleet of around 190 vessels, providing nearly 900 on-board jobs. Wholesaling and processing of sea products provides 5,000 jobs in 150 companies. Thus significant effects are to be expected in the case of a hard Brexit."
Meanwhile, the French region of Finistère, in Brittany, is bracing itself. “The end of the access to the British fishing areas to the Finistère fishing boats is a real economic risk, 50 per cent of the fishing activity in Brittany region … is made inside the British Exclusive Economic Zone,” a local official warned.

Amid French fears about the impact of a 'hard Brexit', it is remarkably cavalier of President Macron to threaten to deliver just that. A study published last month by researchers at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam confirmed that countries with high volumes of trade with the British, like France, would take the biggest economic hit.

That could be mitigated of course, but it requires him to put pragmatism ahead of his pro-EU ideology by not standing in the way of equitable terms being struck with Britain. His team know the value the British provide. They remain, in the words of one of his aides, "the most important and the most active country in the field of defence" for example. So Monsieur Macron has good reason to keep relations cordial at the end of the process.

Despite declaring alongside Mrs May that he had no desire "to punish" the British, his proud defence of the EU's maximalist approach could lead one to believe otherwise. His lack of warmth for Britain as it leaves his beloved club isn't a surprise, but he is playing with fire. If he prevents the British from being able to come away with an equitable deal, the President risks hurting his own economy in the process.

Brexit might feel criminal to Monsieur Macron, but the real crime would be to vindictively beat up Britain over it.

The real crime, Monsieur Macron, isn't Brexit