Dailyreport
Germany and UK agree on migrant smuggler action plan
Britain and Germany signed a plan to work together to stop gangs that bring in illegal immigrants on Tuesday. This happened at a meeting in London of European interior and migration ministers to improve cooperation.Germany and UK agree on migrant smuggler action plan
Nicole de Moor and Annelies Verlinden from Belgium, Bruno Retailleau from France, Nancy Faeser from Germany, and Marjolein Faber, a minister from the Netherlands, all met with UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Martin Hewitt, who is in charge of border security in Britain, to talk.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hired former police chief Hewitt in September to help him keep his promise to “smash” people smuggling gangs before the election.
Rising irregular migration is a problem that is getting worse in many European countries. It was also a big issue in the UK election in July, which gave Starmer’s Labour Party a majority victory.
So far this year, almost 34,000 people who came to Britain without papers crossed the English Channel on dangerous, weak boats. This year has had the most deaths ever, with at least 70.
Also, the number of people moving legally is at an all-time high, with an expected 728,000 moving legally in the year ending June 2024.
Before the talks on Tuesday, the UK’s Home Office said that Germany had promised to make it easier to prosecute people smugglers who use small boats to cross from Northern France. Berlin did not confirm that information right away.
Miguel Berger, Germany’s ambassador to London, said that many of the same groups that bring people from Belarus through Poland to Germany also send them across the Channel.
He said that because of Brexit, the UK had stopped following EU rules on immigration from third countries. The London-Berlin agreement would “see how we can again strengthen our cooperation,” he said.
Faeser from Germany said that the two countries were working together to stop “the cruel activities of criminal migrant smuggling organisations.”
Threats of violence are used to force people into inflatable boats and send them across the Channel. This puts people’s lives at risk.
“Shady”—Many of the crossings were “planned in Germany,” and the deal would help fight “this shady business with even more resolve,” she said.
The talks between European ministers in London are part of a group called the Calais Group.
The Home Office said that they will agree to “heavily combat the business models of people smuggling gangs and make sure that those responsible for this dangerous trade are brought to justice.”
There will also be people there from the European Commission, Frontex, and Europol.
In particular, the parties will try to improve how they share intelligence in order to stop illegal money flows and make it easier to prosecute people who smuggle goods into Europe.
The UK and Germany’s joint plan would make it easier for UK and German police to fight the problem of smuggling migrants and trafficking people, according to a statement from the Home Office.
Germany will also “clarify” its law to make it illegal to bring migrants into the UK illegally.
It also said, “This will give German prosecutors more tools to go after the people who sell and store dangerous small boat gear. It will also help the UK and Germany better fight the constantly changing strategies of people-smuggling gangs.”
That same month, Starmer of Britain called for more international cooperation to fight smuggling networks, which he called a “global security threat similar to terrorism.”
