Yesterday 05:18 PM
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/uks-mi...ne-4770121
INTRO: The UK faces having no migrant returns deal with any EU nation after its one-in-one out deal with France expires in two weeks time and the bloc moves to tighten its own borders.
France had suggested the “one in, one out” migrant deal with Britain could become a Europe-wide agreement. But it is facing resistance to this idea from other EU governments wary of taking responsibility for Channel crossings, officials have warned.
Paris wants the bilateral scheme, under which Britain can return small-boat arrivals to France in exchange for accepting asylum seekers through legal routes, replaced by an agreement between Britain and the entire EU. Laurent Nuñez, the French interior minister, has argued that France should not shoulder the burden alone and has told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that the pilot scheme was not intended to continue beyond October 1.
But France’s proposal is set to run into headwinds in Brussels, particularly from southern European countries that already receive large numbers of migrants entering the EU.
France had long argued that the Channel was a European problem because many of those reaching northern France had previously travelled through countries including Germany, Italy and Spain. However, other governments see the priorities differently.
‘“There is an increasing group of countries that believe that the focus of Europe should not be on doing one-on-one agreements,” a senior EU official said. “It should be on stemming the flow into Europe.”
An EU-wide redistribution arrangement would be a “hard sell” to countries including Italy, Spain, Germany and Poland, the official added.
An EU member state source said: “I don’t see this happening anytime soon because the focus of many EU countries is on implementing our own EU migration pact, agreed before summer. “There is no apetite to start something new, that has no immediate political advantage in the EU countries.” (MORE - details)
INTRO: The UK faces having no migrant returns deal with any EU nation after its one-in-one out deal with France expires in two weeks time and the bloc moves to tighten its own borders.
France had suggested the “one in, one out” migrant deal with Britain could become a Europe-wide agreement. But it is facing resistance to this idea from other EU governments wary of taking responsibility for Channel crossings, officials have warned.
Paris wants the bilateral scheme, under which Britain can return small-boat arrivals to France in exchange for accepting asylum seekers through legal routes, replaced by an agreement between Britain and the entire EU. Laurent Nuñez, the French interior minister, has argued that France should not shoulder the burden alone and has told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that the pilot scheme was not intended to continue beyond October 1.
But France’s proposal is set to run into headwinds in Brussels, particularly from southern European countries that already receive large numbers of migrants entering the EU.
France had long argued that the Channel was a European problem because many of those reaching northern France had previously travelled through countries including Germany, Italy and Spain. However, other governments see the priorities differently.
‘“There is an increasing group of countries that believe that the focus of Europe should not be on doing one-on-one agreements,” a senior EU official said. “It should be on stemming the flow into Europe.”
An EU-wide redistribution arrangement would be a “hard sell” to countries including Italy, Spain, Germany and Poland, the official added.
An EU member state source said: “I don’t see this happening anytime soon because the focus of many EU countries is on implementing our own EU migration pact, agreed before summer. “There is no apetite to start something new, that has no immediate political advantage in the EU countries.” (MORE - details)