Macron and May sign new Calais immigration treaty
President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Theresa May have signed a new treaty - named the “Treaty of Sandhurst” - on immigration between the two countries.
The agreement came during the 35th Franco-British summit held at the military training academy of the same name, on Thursday this week, reports newspaper Le Monde.
According to a press release issued after the event, the treaty aims to “strengthen joint management of our common border with improved treatment of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum”, and will aim to bring down the waiting time for asylum seekers from six months, to just 30 days.
In addition, London will bring an additional €50 million (£44 million) to support and improve operations at the Calais border, which is the site of many hopefuls attempting to enter Britain and the major opening of the Channel Tunnel towards the UK.
Macron vowed that he would “not let [Calais] fall back into being a ‘jungle’”, as many described the asylum seeker situation during the camp’s dismantling and closure in 2016, when over 8,000 people were said to be stranded there.
Over 2,000 unaccompanied minors were discovered after this dismantling, and the UK said it would welcome all “isolated children who had family already in the UK, or who were especially ‘vulnerable’”. Britain eventually took in 769 children, with France giving asylum to 893.
British agents are already permitted to carry out checks on French territory, under the Touquet agreements, which came into force in 2004, and to this end the UK has already spent over €113 million (£100 million) on Calais-based operations since 2014.
The Sandhurst summit is also said to have allowed Macron and May to discuss defence, with Macron confirming that French soldiers will be sent, as part of a UK contingent, to Estonia in 2019, to be alert to any growing threat from Russia.
On her part, May announced that the UK would send three military Chinook helicopters to help French military operations in Sahel (the Sudan), and would equally send tens of millions of euros to help develop the region.
