Migrants: "France will not let the Channel become a cemetery", says Macron

Europe 1 with AFP 9:10 p.m., November 24, 2021

"France will not let the Channel become a cemetery," Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday after the death of at least 31 migrants in the Channel, asking for "the immediate strengthening of the resources of the Frontex agency at the external borders" of the 'EU, according to a press release from the Élysée.

The French head of state called for "an emergency meeting of European ministers concerned by the migration challenge" and assured that "everything will be done to find and condemn those responsible" for this tragedy.

An interministerial meeting Thursday at 8:30 am

Its Prime Minister, Jean Castex, will hold an interministerial meeting on this issue on Thursday at 8:30 am with the Interior Ministers, Gérald Darmanin, Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, Armies, Florence Parly, de la Mer, Annick Girardin, of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the Secretary of State for Europe, Clément Beaune, according to his services. In his statement, President Macron reports at least 31 dead while the previous police record stood at 27 people who perished Wednesday in the sinking of their boat off the coast of Calais, a city in northern France, became the starting point for attempted crossings to the British coasts.

This tragedy is the deadliest since the soaring in 2018 of migratory crossings of the Channel, in the face of the increasing lockdown of the port of Calais and the Channel tunnel used until then by migrants trying to reach England.

"We are all moved by this tragedy which strikes everyone in their privacy and in their values", also declares Emmanuel Macron, expressing his "compassion" and "France's unconditional support" to the families of the victims.

"It is Europe in what it carries deepest - humanism, respect for the dignity of each person, which is in mourning," he adds.

>> READ ALSO -

Migrants shipwrecked off Calais: "It could only happen!"

"Networks of smugglers" which "endanger human lives"

He calls into question the "networks of smugglers who, by exploiting misery and distress, endanger human lives and ultimately decimate families".

"France is acting, in conjunction with Great Britain, to dismantle the networks of smugglers" and "since the beginning of the year, thanks to the mobilization of 600 police and gendarmes, 1,552 smugglers have been arrested on the North coast and 44 networks of smugglers dismantled ", affirmed the president, adding that" 7,800 migrants were rescued ".

"Despite this action, 47,000 attempted crossings have taken place since January 1," he said.

"If we do not step up our efforts today, other tragedies will happen again," he warns.

For this, "we must accelerate the dismantling of criminal networks linked to Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany".

"We owe it to the victims, to the orphans, to the families. We owe it to ourselves," he concludes.