French minister says ‘Brexit’ could tear up treaty allowing UK police to operate in France
A senior French government minister has said his country could tear up an agreement allowing British border police to operate in Calais if the UK leaves the EU.
The comments, aired as David Cameron prepares to travel to France for a summit, raise the prospect of the “Jungle” refugee camp being relocated into Britain in the case of Brexit.
France’s economy minister, Emmanuel Macron, told the Financial Times that the Le Touquet agreement – a bilateral relationship between the UK and France – would be threatened by a British withdrawal from the EU.
The issue of the Calais camp has caused controversy since Cameron suggested that refugees would move into Kent in the event of Brexit.
Out campaigners have dismissed Cameron’s claims as scaremongering, pointing out that Le Touquet is a bilateral agreement unrelated to the EU.
Cameron will be hoping that the French president, François Hollande, backs up his minister’s position when the two leaders meet on Friday.
Cameron wants Hollande to say that he would review the agreement – which was largely seen as a temporary measure – because that would add strength to the remain campaign’s position. The French president is also under pressure from within his own country over the build-up of refugees in Calais.
Xavier Bertrand, the recently re-elected president of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region, has repeatedly said the Le Touquet agreement would be torn up if Britain left the EU. He said: “If Britain leaves Europe, right away the border will leave Calais and go to Dover. We will not continue to guard the border for Britain if it’s no longer in the European Union.”
Bertrand wrote to Hollande demanding the issue be put on the agenda for the summit, and French officials are aware it is likely to be raised by the UK media at the press conference following the meeting.
