UK and France announce joint police command to tackle people-smugglers

Europe’s interior and foreign ministers will meet in mid-October to discuss how to respond to the huge influx of migrants and refugees arriving at EU borders, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday.

In a major expansion of the British effort, the Government has commissioned a security audit of other ports in France and northern Europe that could be used by criminal gangs or targeted by migrants attempting to make opportunistic crossings.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has spoken to officials in the two countries and is expected to travel for further discussions.

Mrs May also said that other northern French ports such as Dunkirk are being scrutinised.

Britain and France are set to sign an agreement aimed at alleviating the Calais migrants crisis which will include measures to strengthen security at the port.

“Smugglers must know that they will be identified, caught and punished by justice, and we are determined to ensure that this nefarious traffic, which leads to human tragedies and deaths will finally stop”, he told reporters.

Zeebrugge in Belgium and the Hook of Holland were seen as potentially vulnerable entry points.

De Maiziere said it was “unacceptable that European institutions continue to work at their current slow pace” in finding a joint solution to the crisis, adding that “too little” was being done to implement decisions that have already been taken.

Syrian migrant Kamil, speaking Thursday from a Calais camp, said the British investment in security “is a waste of money”.

British police will be deployed to Calais to target trafficking gangs as part of a fresh drive to tackle the migrant crisis.

They danger their lives by making an attempt to board lorries and trains heading to Britain.

France has also said it will contribute extra humanitarian assistance to migrants in encampments near the Eurotunnel, where sanitary conditions are dire.

Up to 5,000 migrants are estimated to be in Calais and a number have died attempting to cross to Britain.

The EC’s Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the first instalment of a special grant would now be sent to help Paris deal with its side of the crisis.

Last week, the operators of the Channel Tunnel said the numbers of “attempted intrusions” by migrants were down since the peak earlier in the summer.

The EU has approved 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) of funding to help member states cope with the flood of migrants, but Mr Sy insisted the response so far “is nowhere near the scale of the problems that we are seeing”.