French authorities to begin stopping migrant vessels in Channel following UK pressure
France has agreed to begin stopping migrant vessels in the Channel, following months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift comes after the British leader wrote to the President asking him to support the initiative and stating there currently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French security forces have been authorized to stop the small boats at sea, but only before they've picked up their migrants, according to official confirmation.
French police have infrequently acted to stop the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both personnel and civilians.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this month... We have zero effective deterrent in the Channel."
Currently, a French naval police representative states officers will start taking action at sea, with the aim of safeguarding lives.
Notably, the official excluded the use of nets to stop boats, which had previously been reported as a possible method to disable the engines of the vessels.
The decision to take action at all is a major advancement, coming after a short-lived shift towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the former Interior Minister departed from government.
This was demonstrated 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 slash the hulls of a boat.
Now French authorities will once more be allowed to stop boats before they pick up asylum-seeking individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the small boats will be prevented.
Powerful gusts are currently postponing the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling networks will be looking for ways to adapt to evade detection, as they have frequently done in the past.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been contacted for response.
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