French authorities will start stopping small boats in Channel after UK pressure
France has agreed to start intercepting migrant vessels in the English Channel, after months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift comes after the British leader wrote to the President urging him to support the plan and saying there presently "have no effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French security forces will be allowed to intercept the small boats at sea, but exclusively prior to they've picked up their migrants, according to authoritative statements.
French authorities have rarely intervened to stop the overcrowded boats departing from the coastline because it is considered too great a risk to both officers and civilians.
"It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson says officers will start intervening at sea, with the objective of protecting lives.
Notably, the spokesperson excluded the use of nets to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a possible technique to disable the engines of the boats.
This determination to intervene at all is a major step forward, following a short-lived change towards a more aggressive approach this summer, which ceased when the former government official departed from government.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and French president, when French police were observed wading into the sea to damage the hulls of a boat.
Now French authorities will again be permitted to intercept boats before they pick up asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of northern France, although it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.
Strong winds are presently delaying the start of interceptions and the human trafficking networks will be seeking ways to adapt to avoid detection, as they have frequently done in the past.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been approached for comment.
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