French authorities will start stopping small boats in Channel following UK pressure
France has agreed to begin intercepting small boats in the Channel, after an extended period of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift comes after the Prime Minister sent a letter to the President urging him to support the plan and saying there presently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French maritime police will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their passengers, according to official confirmation.
French authorities have rarely acted to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and civilians.
"It is crucial that we implement these tactics this period... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson says personnel will start intervening at sea, with the aim of safeguarding lives.
Notably, the spokesperson excluded the use of nets to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a possible method to disable the engines of the vessels.
The decision to intervene at all is a significant advancement, coming after a brief change towards a stricter strategy this warmer season, which dropped off when the former Interior Minister departed from government.
That was highlighted in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and French president, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.
Now French authorities will again be allowed to stop boats before they pick up migrant individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the vessels will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are presently delaying the start of interceptions and the human trafficking networks will be seeking ways to adjust to avoid interception, as they have frequently done in the past.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been approached for response.
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