Nordausques (France) (AFP)

The President of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, blasted Wednesday "the hypocrisy of the British" and "the inaction of the French government" in the face of migratory traffic in the Channel, citing the need for deployment in the area of 'a Frontex-type device.

"Let us fight to really completely settle the migratory questions on Calaisis and all the littoral. I do not understand the inaction of the French government", launched Xavier Bertrand, in campaign for his renewal at the head of the Region, at the time of '' a meeting with rural elected officials in Nordausques (Pas-de-Calais).

"For four years, we have turned a deaf ear at the top of the State while François Hollande and Bernard Cazeneuve (former Minister of the Interior editor's note), them, had heard us (...) during the dismantling of the jungle of Calais ", he added, alongside the LR mayor of Calais and regional councilor for the majority, Natacha Bouchart.

The declared presidential candidate reaffirmed his will "to engage in a standoff with the English, which is based on the renegotiation of the Touquet agreements".

These agreements "are the good deal for the English. We are the ones doing the job for them, there is no fair return," he lamented.

Signed on February 4, 2003 by Paris and London, the "Treaty of Touquet" aimed to hinder irregular immigration to Great Britain, by strengthening controls on departure from France.

"The second point is the end of sea crossings (...) We have Frontex (the EU border surveillance agency editor's note) in southern Europe, why don't we have a similar device in northern Europe? "proposed Mr. Bertrand.

He also called for a "Franco-British maritime brigade to break up traffic in the Channel", "to show that passages in the United Kingdom are impossible".

"But it will also be necessary that the British stop playing the hypocrites", he judged, noting that despite the high number of passages and attempts of passage of migrants, "we have never seen them return, because they keep them in the UK ".

"The British were very strong in threatening us to send the navy for our fishermen. Why don't they make the same effort to stop the smugglers? There are enough of the British hypocrisy," he said. scolded.

In 2020, more than 9,500 migratory crossings or attempts to cross the Channel by sea were recorded by the French authorities, four times more than in 2019.

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