London (TDI): In a joint press talk with UK’s Prime Minister Kier Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Brexit and regarded it as a major reason for UK’s current migrant crisis.
Macron is on a three-day state visit to the UK and during the media talk, both leaders announced “One in, one out” deal to tackle the migrant issue.
Brexit and migrant crisis
The UK, which was previously a member of the European Union, exited the union in 2020 through a referendum and ensuing deal with the union. This process of Britain withdrawing from the European Union was named as ‘Brexit’, simply for the reason of Britain exiting the union.
As a member of the EU previously the UK and union used to jointly take care of the issues, including the migrant issue concerning Europe. However, since the calls for the UK’s exist, which ultimately materialized, the migrant issue has been getting worse for Britain in particular, with each passing day.
The number of illegal migrants entering the country has gone up at an increasingly higher rate especially after 2018. In a recent joint press conference of the leaders of France and the UK, Macron termed Brexit as a key reason for this issue as there is not any productive deal between the European Union and the Uk regarding the Migrant Crisis.
Moreover, he pointed to the incentives which the Uk offer for the illegal migrants, like doing Jobs without getting caught, as another reason for ramping up the illegal migrants. Nevertheless, both leaders signed a deal called ‘one-in-one-out’ to tackle this issue mutually.
What’s in the One-in-One-Out deal
The UK and France have made an agreement, which resulted from the bilateral summit between the leaders of both western states, to prevent the tens of thousands of migrants from crossing the English channel from France in small boats.
Under this deal, France will be taking the asylum seekers who have crossed over to the UK and who can not prove a family connection to the UK. For each migrant that will be transferred to France, the UK will grant asylum to one migrant from France who will be having legitimate family connection to the UK.
As reported by the French Newspaper Le Monde, initially the UK will send 50 migrants to France per week as part of a ‘Pilot’ Scheme. The plans will be scaled up if the initial ‘Pilot scheme’ remains successful, The UK press reported.
Fakhar Bhatti
Fakhar Bhatti has a BS in International Relations from Bahria University, Islamabad. His research interests include diplomacy, international law, and human rights.
