Crossing of migrants: France has "no lessons to receive from the British"

The British "must stop taking us for domestic politics punching balls," the minister added on CNews.

While Priti Patel was scheduled to come to Paris to meet her French counterpart at 7:00 p.m., the Liverpool attack upset the British Minister's agenda;

the discussion between the two officials will therefore take place by videoconference, we learned in Mr. Darmanin's entourage.

"We are neither their collaborators, nor their auxiliaries," the Minister of the Interior told CNews.

Gérald Darmanin argued that the situation in Calais, where migrants are massed in the hope of reaching Britain, was the fault of the government of Boris Johnson.

"I will remind my British counterpart, he said, that the NGOs which prevent the police and the gendarmerie from working are largely British NGOs with British citizens who are on French soil and are doing the work. 'agit-prop ".

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel leaving Downing Street after a Cabinet meeting in London October 27, 2021 DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS AFP / Archives

He further argued that "the smugglers, who organize networks and exploit women and children (...) are very often in Britain".

Finally, Mr Darmanin criticized the "labor market which in Britain operates largely with a reserve army, as Karl Marx would say, irregular people who can work at low cost".

"If the British changed their legislation very drastically - they did it, but not enough - people would no longer be in Calais or Dunkirk," he said.

"It is we who are subject to British policy. We must not reverse the roles," said the Minister of the Interior.

Migrants, including families, board a boat on Gravelines beach, in the North, on September 22, 2020, bound for England, while a vessel of the Danish company DFDS crosses Sameer Al-DOUMY offshore AFP / Archives

The spokesman for the British Prime Minister assured Monday that the government of Boris Johnson wanted "to work constructively" to "find a solution".

Tension had increased between London and Paris on Friday after the number of illegal Channel crossings hit a record high the day before with a total of 1,185 migrants having managed to reach British soil, according to the British Home Office .

© 2021 AFP