UK PM Rishi Sunak asks France's Emmanuel Macron for help with Channel migrants
New UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had his first official phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, just a few days after taking office.
Sunak said that links with France "span centuries" and noted the two countries cooperate closely on a range of issues from Ukraine to energy securiy.
However the main discussions were about migrants crossing the Channel, with the UK asking for France's help.
The UK's Conservative government has made repeated promises since Brexit about the need to reduce the flow of migrants from mainland Europe to Britain, often in very dangerous conditions, with hundreds of lives lost this year alone.
But the British have been unable to do much, if anything, about the number of people attempting the crossing.
"The Prime Minister stressed the importance for both countries of making the Channel route completely impassable for human traffickers. The leaders pledged to deepen their partnership to discourage the deadly Channel crossings that benefit organised criminals," Downing Street said in a statement.
The French side stated Macron's "availability" to "deepen the bilateral relationship between France and the UK, notably in the fields of defence, strategic affairs and energy".
The British government is already helping French authorities financially to better monitor the French coast to prevent departures.
But according to The Times newspaper, Rishi Sunak wants to go further. He wants an agreement with quantified targets for intercepted boats, a minimum number of French agents assigned to monitor the beaches and British border guards to accompany them.
On the British side, he aims to set targets for 80% of asylum applications to be processed within six months, compared to an average of 480
Read more on euronews.com
