News / France

Refugee camps must be moved to UK after Brexit: Calais mayor

Saturday, 25 June 2016 7:34 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 25 June 2016 7:35 AM ]

Natacha Bouchart, mayor of the French city of Calais ©AP

The mayor of France’s northern port city of Calais, which is hosting refugees waiting to cross into the UK, has called for camps to be moved to British soil in the aftermath of the country’s vote to leave the European Union.

Natacha Bouchart said on Friday that Paris must act following the Brexit vote, adding, “The British must take the consequences of their choice.”

In 2003, France and the UK signed the Touquet agreement, which keeps border checks and many asylum seekers on the French side of the Channel Tunnel, the undersea passage into Britain.

Bouchart said that she will push for the deal to be suspended, saying, “We are in a strong position to push, to press this request for a review and we are asking the president (Francois Hollande) to bring his weight [to the issue].”

She further stressed that France will not “guard the border for Britain if it's no longer in the European Union.”

Meanwhile, Xavier Bertrand, the president of the of region Hauts-de-France, where Calais is located, tweeted, British voters opted to “take back their freedom, they must take back their border.”

In a referendum held on June 23, Britons voted to withdraw from the EU by a narrow margin, with a turnout of 72 percent. Leave won the referendum with 51.9 percent, while Remain finished on 48.1 percent.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was leading the battle to keep the country in the 28-nation bloc, had warned that in case of Brexit, France will stop allowing UK officials to make checks in Calais.

Thousands of people are living in the “Jungle,” the name given to various encampments on the land around the tunnel in Calais.

A refugee looks at the “Jungle” camp for in Calais on June 24, 2016. ©AFP

The situation in Calais is part of a wider refugee crisis across Europe, which has been grappling with its biggest influx of asylum seekers since World War II, as people flee conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East.

Many blame major European powers for the unprecedented exodus, saying their policies have led to a surge in terrorism and war in the violence-hit regions, forcing more people out of their homes.

More than 214,860 asylum seekers have reached Europe via the Mediterranean so far this year, while 2,860 people died or went missing in their perilous journey to the continent, according to the latest figures by the International Organization of Migration.

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