Brussels, 03/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The United Kingdom announced at the Franco-British summit in Amiens on Thursday 3 March that it would provide €22 million (£17 million) in 2016 to help deal with the situation in Calais.
The money will be “used for priority infrastructure projects to help the French police protect the road networks around the port of Calais. It will also: fund efforts to give shelter to migrants in facilities in other parts of France; support the running of those facilities; and enable further joint work to return migrants not in need of humanitarian assistance to their home countries”, a joint press release states. In 2015, the UK provided €82 million to bolster security in the port and the Channel tunnel, including for fences and additional infrastructure, security guards, dogs and detection technology, the two countries note in their press release.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron made the announcement at a joint press conference with French President François Hollande. Hollande argued that the United Kingdom should take in unaccompanied foreign children who had family in the UK, after the French authorities started dismantling part of the so-called “jungle” on 29 February. Cameron was not opposed to the idea, stating that, if the children had “direct family” in the UK and if they applied for asylum in France, “under the Dublin Convention they could join their family in Britain”. Those are the current arrangements but “we've talked today about how we can make sure they work better and more speedily”, said Cameron.
The French president also stated that migrants looking to travel on from Calais to England could claim asylum in France and seek protection there. When asked about the possibility of the UK leaving the EU and about the comments made that morning by French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron that, in the event of a “Brexit”, France would end border controls and would allow migrants to make their way to England, Hollande would not confirm such a scenario, making clear at the press conference, however, that “consequences” would inevitably follow a Brexit. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)