UK to deport migrants to France—and take in others in return

Brussels – For the first time since Brexit, the UK will be able to send back some of the migrants entering the country from France via the English Channel. Yesterday (10 July), Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron announced an agreement that will allow the British authorities to proceed with a certain number of expulsions to the continent, in return for accepting asylum seekers who prove they have family ties on the island. 

The two leaders unveiled the agreement at the end of a three-day visit by the French President to the UK. They planned to launch a pilot project as early as the coming weeks. The principle is exemplified in the slogan “one in, one out“, emphasising reciprocity in terms of the burden on national reception systems. In reality, French President Emmanuel Macron will have to convince Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus that the bilateral agreement with Keir Starmer does not become a burden for them too, to whom Paris could hand back asylum seekers, in accordance with the cardinal principle of the Dublin Regulation.

Under the programme, British officials will select a certain number of incoming migrants to return to parts of France far from the northern coast, in exchange for taking in asylum seekers who can prove family ties in the UK. London will detain those applicants selected for “pilot expulsions”, informing them that their asylum claim is inadmissible. Conversely, those in France who wish to access family reunification will be able to apply via an online platform, and if their application is successful, they will be eligible to apply for asylum in the UK. 

Today, the European Commission’s spokesman for home affairs, Markus Lammert, said that Brussels will “examine the concrete modalities of this cooperation with the parties involved.” For the time being, it remains unclear whether and how the EU executive and the member states will approve the agreement. The programme is also still uncertain in terms of scope and timeframe: Macron and Starmer have not indicated precise targets, but according to British and French media, there is talk of a maximum of 50 people involved per week, i.e. around 2,600 per year. A number that remains derisory compared to the decidedly increasing number of crossings: according to data from the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency, 33,200 migrants, often in small and fragile boats, left the French coast in the first six months of the year. 

The British Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said in a radio interview that she expects the EU to approve the agreement: “We have talked to the EU commissioners,” she said, “we have also talked to other European home secretaries and governments throughout this process.” Cooper explained that the project has been in the pipeline “since October last year and the EU commissioners have been very supportive. That is why we have designed it so that it works, not only for the UK and France, but also to address all their concerns.”