UK and France have 'shared responsibility' to tackle illegal migration, Macron says

Emmanuel Macron has said the UK and France person a "shared responsibility" to tackle the "burden" of amerciable migration, arsenic helium urged co-operation betwixt London and Paris up of a crunch acme aboriginal this week.

Addressing parliament successful the Palace of Westminster connected Tuesday, the French president said the UK-France acme would bring "cooperation and tangible results" regarding the tiny boats situation successful the Channel.

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Mr Macron - who is the archetypal European person to marque a authorities sojourn to the UK since Brexit - told the assemblage that portion migrants' "hope for a amended beingness elsewhere is legitimate", "we cannot let our countries' rules for taking successful radical to beryllium flouted and transgression networks to cynically exploit the hopes of truthful galore individuals with truthful small respect for quality life".

"France and the UK person a shared work to code irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness," helium added.

Looking up to the UK-France acme connected Thursday, helium promised the "best ever cooperation" betwixt France and the UK "to hole contiguous what is simply a load for our 2 countries".

Sir Keir Starmer volition anticipation to scope a woody with his French counterpart connected a "one in, 1 out" migrant returns woody astatine the cardinal acme connected Thursday.

King Charles besides addressed the delegations astatine a authorities banquet successful Windsor Castle connected Tuesday evening, saying the acme would "deepen our confederation and broaden our partnerships inactive further".

Sitting adjacent to President Macron, the monarch said: "Our equipped forces volition cooperate adjacent much intimately crossed the world, including to enactment Ukraine arsenic we articulation unneurotic successful starring a conjugation of the consenting successful defence of liberty and state from oppression. In different words, successful defence of our shared values."

In April, British officials confirmed a aviator strategy was being considered to deport migrants who transverse the English Channel successful speech for the UK accepting asylum seekers successful France with morganatic claims.

The 2 countries person engaged successful talks astir a one-for-one swap, enabling undocumented asylum seekers who person reached the UK by tiny vessel to beryllium returned to France.

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Britain would past person migrants from France who would person a close to beryllium successful the UK, similar those who already person household settled here.

The tiny boats situation is simply a pressing contented for the premier minister, fixed that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK successful the archetypal six months of this twelvemonth - a emergence of astir 50% connected the fig crossing successful 2024.

Elsewhere successful his speech, the French president addressed Brexit, and said the UK could not "stay connected the sidelines" contempt its departure from the European Union.

He said European countries had to interruption distant from economical dependence connected the US and China.

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"Our 2 countries are among the oldest sovereign nations successful Europe, and sovereignty means a batch to some of us, and everything I referred to was astir sovereignty, deciding for ourselves, choosing our technologies, our economy, deciding our diplomacy, and deciding the contented we privation to stock and the ideas we privation to share, and the controversies we privation to share.

"Even though it is not portion of the European Union, the United Kingdom cannot enactment connected the sidelines due to the fact that defence and security, competitiveness, ideology - the precise halfway of our individuality - are connected crossed Europe arsenic a continent."