France backing away from pledge to intercept migrant boats, sources tell BBC

According to several sources contacted by the BBC, France is pulling away from a pledge to act more forcefully at sea to discourage small boats from crossing the English Channel. There are signs that France's current political instability is partially to blame, but it will put the UK government's efforts to solve the problem as a result. In the meantime, dangerously overcrowded inflatable boats are starting to leave the coast on a daily basis, from a shallow tidal canal near the port of Dunkirk. Although Martin Hewitt, the British border security minister, has already expressed frust at French delays, the BBC has learned from a number of sources in France that the prospect of a new maritime rule - which would see patrol boats attempt to intercept inflatable boats and pull them back to shore - is hollow. It's just a political stunt.It's much blah-blah,

said one figure closely attached to French maritime security. According to the BBC, the new taxi-boats' new policy was

still being researched.

Bruno Retailleau, the former Interior Minister of France, was widely praised, not least in the United Kingdom, for his more active Channel policy. President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met in July last year, bringing a summit to an end. The initial concern was on plans to intercept the so-called taxi boats now used by smugglers to cruise close to the coast, collecting passengers already standing in the water. Since it's considered too dangerous to both officers and civilians, French police seldom intervened against the overcrowded taxi-boats. However, days before the summit, we saw French police wading into the sea south of Boulogne to slash the sides of a taxi-boat as it became stuck in the waves and drifted near to shore.

The prime minister's spokesperson reacted immediately to our video, saying that it was a really important moment and that the French were already taking stronger steps to block the small boats on shore and, possibly at sea. The French interior ministry's well-placed source told the BBC that policy reforms were imminent shortly after.

We will begin operations at sea in the next few days after the reform of the doctrine,

the source said. However, Retailleau has resigned as minister in the midst of several chaotic reshuffles, and a disengaged French government appears to be focusing on other crises since then.

It's likely that (the new steps at sea) will never happen,

Peter Walsh, who studies the issue at Oxford's Migration Observatory.

The migrant boats are now leaving France, but not just from the beaches. Four people were seen in a single day by a retired chip store owner who lives along a canal just inland from the coast at Gravelines. He showed us videos of the boats, including videos of people scrambling onboard in the middle of the canal and a police patrol boat recently circling another inflatable while making no attempt to prevent it from leaving. It's mad, mad, mad.You must stop the boats," Jean Deldicque said.

The Canal de L'Aa was shallow enough for security forces to intervene without putting people's lives in jeopardy, according to a marine expert who begged us not to use their names due to their close ties to the state, but not to intervener without threatening their lives. Other canals and rivers in the area have been sometimes blocked by ropes or chains, but these have often been ineffective against the highly mobile smuggling gangs. Though French politics has unquestionably contributed to British government efforts to slow down, a number of small-boat crossings, legal and moral questions are also proving vital. One of the major obstacles to stopping the inflatables at sea, according to several sources, is the fear that it will eventually result in more deaths and prosecutions of the security forces concerned.

The French navy is against this. They know that this kind of mission is extremely risky, and they can be charged with being caught and ending up in jail. One source predicts that it will be a disaster. And the less promising proposal, which British officials also suggested, of giving the French police more legal authority to reach the beaches and dive deeper into the sea to prevent the boats from crashing, has been rejected. If, indeed, it was ever truly considered. According to current laws, French police and firefighters can intervene in shallow water only to save people who seem to be in imminent danger. We saw it on the beach near Boulogne in early July, which is clearly what we saw. From the beginning, there has been a mystery regarding France's position on this subject. Several French intelligence sources have told us that getting the police to block the boats from wading into the sea was never even a remote possibility. However, French unions have said that reforms were considered and rejected. Jean-Pierre Cloez, the interior minister's proposals that had been raised earlier this year are now

on hold.

We thought [too] risky at the time. For the time being, the laws are the same. There hasn't been a change in the way we do things.

An ongoing shortage of equipment, education, and staff," Mr Cloez and others have all mentioned.

None of this means that France is abandoning its commitment to patrolling its beaches or intercepting the smugglers and their boats on land. The operation is large, sophisticated, and spans more than 150 kilometers (90 miles) of coastline. The United Kingdom is paying for a substantial portion of the Sandhurst Treaty's term, which is set to be renegotiated for renewal next year. Volunteer rescue teams on the northern French coast continue to rescue people and occasionally bodies from the water. Any volunteers have expressed disappointment with being repeatedly asked by the maritime authorities to escort inflatable boats into British waters: a process that can take many hours. However, they have also highlighted the specific challenges that anyone trying to interfere in the channel faces.

If they don't request assistance, you cannot force them to accept it,

Gérard Barron, the head of Boulogne's sea rescue volunteers, says.

The crew has told me that on occasion, when they have approached a dinghy carrying too many people and asked if they want help, they have seen knives flashed.

They have also seen young men holding babies over the water on occasion, threatening to remove them if we got any closer. Barron admits to a certain degree of frustration with France's recent inability to do more to deter the smugglers after 45 years of experience in rescues. Many lives will be saved if there were laws against sending flimsy, unlicensed, and overcrowded boats to sea.