After months of pressure from Britain, France has agreed to start stopping small boats in the Channel.
The change in policy comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote to President Emmanuel Macron urging him to support the plan, saying we currently have “no effective deterrent” in the Channel, according to a report in Le Monde.
French security forces will be allowed to stop small boats at sea, but not before they pick up their passengers, the maritime police force has confirmed to the BBC.
French police rarely intervene to stop overcrowded boats leaving the beach as it is considered too great a risk for both officers and citizens.
Le Monde read Sir Keir’s letter: “It is essential that we implement these strategies this month… We have no effective deterrent in the Channel.”
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson says officers will begin intervening at sea with the aim of protecting human life.
In particular, the spokesperson ruled out the use of nets to stop boats, which Le Monde previously reported could be used to trap boats’ propellers.
The decision to intervene is a significant step forward, following a short-lived shift toward a more aggressive approach this summer by former interior minister Bruno Retailleau.
The BBC reported in March that Retaileau wanted these interceptions to begin – but he admitted it was a difficult issue for his government to resolve because of maritime policing rules.
Ahead of the July summit between Sir Keir and President Macron, the BBC saw French police going into the sea south of Boulogne to cut off the sides of a boat.
But then the intervention stopped, and it seems surprising on the UK’s part that it took so long to solve problems that Retaileau had already identified and said he would fix.
French authorities will now again be allowed to stop boats before picking up migrants off the beaches of northern France, although it is unclear how smaller boats will be stopped.
High winds are currently delaying the start of interceptions and people smuggling gangs may be looking for ways to adapt to avoid interceptions, as they have often done in the past.
A UK government spokesperson said: “We continue to work closely with our French partners on the shared challenge of illegal migration, and we have already worked to ensure that authorities in France review their maritime strategy to enable them to intervene in shallow waters.”
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