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Calais migrant camp must go by end of year, says François Hollande France to close Calais refugee camp and tells UK it must play its part
(about 1 hour later)
The French president, François Hollande, says the migrant camp in Calais must be fully dismantled by the end of the year. The French president, François Hollande, has said France will completely shut down the Calais refugee camp and called on London to help deal with the plight of thousands of people hoping to get to Britain.
Hollande, who was visiting the northern French port on Monday for the first time since winning office in 2012, said the camp known as “the Jungle” was a “humanitarian emergency”. “The situation is unacceptable and everyone here knows it,” Hollande said on a visit to the northern port. “We must dismantle the camp completely and definitively.”
Authorities say about 7,000 people – aid groups put the figure at 10,000 – live in squalid conditions near Calais, hoping to get to Britain. Authorities say about 7,000 people – aid groups put the figure at 10,000 – live in squalid conditions near Calais.
Hollande said: “We must guarantee a durable and effective sealing of the French-British border.” He insisted British authorities must “take their part” in the effort. France plans to relocate people in small groups around the country but rightwing opponents of the Socialist president are raising the heat in the runup to the election in April, accusing him of mismanaging an issue that is ultimately a British problem.
The French government announced plans in the summer to disperse Calais migrants into centres across the country, where they will be able to apply for asylum. Hollande reaffirmed that plan on Saturday. Britain argues that migrants seeking asylum need to do so under European Union law in the country where they enter. If France stopped trying to prevent migrants from entering Britain, Britain would ultimately find itself obliged to deal with the matter when asylum seekers land on its shores.
More soon … Hollande bluntly reminded Britain of that, saying he expected London to fully honour agreements on managing the flow of migrants. “I also want to restate my determination that the British authorities play their part in the humanitarian effort that France is undertaking and that they continue to do that in the future,” he said.
London and Paris have struck agreements on issues such as the construction of a giant wall on the approach road to Calais port in an attempt to try to stop migrants who attempt daily to board cargo trucks bound for Britain.