France will start stopping migrant vessels in Channel following UK pressure
France has agreed to start intercepting small boats in the English Channel, following months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift follows the Prime Minister wrote to the French leader asking him to support the initiative and saying there presently "have no effective deterrent" in the maritime passage.
French maritime police have been authorized to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French authorities have rarely intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the coastline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both personnel and civilians.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this period... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Now, a French naval police spokesperson says officers will begin intervening at sea, with the objective of safeguarding lives.
Notably, the official excluded the use of nets to stop boats, which had previously been reported as a potential technique to snarl the propellers of the boats.
This determination to take action at all is a major step forward, coming after a brief shift towards a stricter approach this summer, which ceased when the former government official departed from office.
This was demonstrated in the summer month, preceding a summit between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were observed walking into the sea to slash the sides of a vessel.
Now French authorities will again be allowed to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking individuals from the coastal areas of France's north coast, although it's not clear how the small boats will be prevented.
Powerful gusts are currently postponing the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be looking for methods to adapt to avoid detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and the Prime Minister's office have been contacted for comment.
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