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Calais mayor blames ‘lax’ Britain for illegal migrants
Peter Allen in Paris20 Apr 2009
THE mayor of Calais has blamed Britain's lax asylum system and benefits culture for “imposing” thousands of illegal migrants on her town.
In a blistering attack in which she also called for millions of euros in compensation, Natacha Bouchart said the UK was entirely to blame for the thousands of foreigners who use the French port as a staging point to get across the Channel.
Mrs Bouchart, a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, said she was so disgusted by what was going on that she refused to have meetings with British government representatives.
“I've received many demands for a meeting,” she said. “I've never followed them up because I consider them provocative. To receive in the city hall a representative of the British government is to support what it imposes on us.”
Mrs Bouchart pointed out that the Calais chamber of trade was losing some £12 million a year securing the port area — money she suggested the French government should pay back.
But it was Britain's immigration system which was predominantly to blame for thousands of Africans, eastern Europeans and people from central Asia trying to clamber aboard lorries and trains in Calais to get to the UK.
“Requesting asylum is easier with them [the British] than in France,” said Mrs Bouchart. “The asylum seeker is given accommodation and receives
£31 to £40 a week according to their case, when the annual salary of the average Eritrean is around $200 [£135]. That seems enormous and it's attractive, even if in some places it's nothing.”
Calling for a “change in attitude”, Mrs Bouchart said the build up of UK-bound foreigners was “untenable”.
She criticised the fact that Britain had not signed up to the Schengen agreement — which allows people in Europe to travel from one country to another without a passport.
Although Britain has signed the Dublin Convention, which streamlined the application process for political asylum, France still had a duty to try to keep illegal migrants out of the UK.
Mrs Bouchart, who made her comments at a Calais press conference, said: “The British signed the Dublin accords but did not ratify Schengen. That places them in an easy situation.
“Calais is a hostage to the British. That's enough. It's no longer tenable. It's necessary to renegotiate these accords. We're not here to do their job,” said Mrs Bouchart.
Reader views (16)
WHY DONT FRANCE USE THEIR BRAIN IF WE FIND SOME ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN BRITAIN WE SHIP THEM STRAIGHT TO FRANCE BUT FRANCE LEAVE THEM ON THE FRENCH BORDERS READY TO COME BAKC INTO BRITAIN BUT WHY DON'T FRANCE DEPORT THEM BACK TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY SO THEN THEY WILL THINK TWICE ABOUT COMING TO RANGE OR WHY DON'T FRANCE JUST DEPORT THEM TO BRITAIN?
- Ffs, UK, 06/05/2009 13:20
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If these are illegal immigrants why is France not deporting them?
I do however agree with her about our asylum system and benefits culture. We are being bled dry.
As for the millions of Euros in compensation, when France pay the EU fines imposed on their country over the years and when we receive compensation in lossed revenue due to their citizens striking and blocking ports all the time, then and only then can they make a claim.
I am sure in true EU culture any claim will be processed, filed, stamped, filed and stamped again, then binned!
We have already given them millions for dealing with the illegals their side of the Channel.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 21/04/2009 15:53
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She's right!! The UK is an easy touch. That's why everybody and anybody tries to come here.
- Xtremely Worried, UK, 21/04/2009 08:06
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The problem is that the French are not willing to offer asylum in France. They just stockpile immigrants to dump on the UK. The prinicple is that 'asylum seekers' are granted asylum in the first EU country they enter - not the last. But most people in Calais are economic migrants, not fleeing genuine persecution (as the mayor tacitly admnits in her statement on benefits). Thank God we didn't sign up to Schengen - we'd be even more flooded with immigrants than we are already. The answer is simple. Send illegal immigrants back home, Madame Mayor. Don't blame the UK for the failure of your own lax border controls or your underhand policy of offloading non-EU migrants onto the UK. In the current economic climate, charity begins at home.
- Londonlass, London, 20/04/2009 22:55
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I cannot believe the French mayor. What rubbish. If these people are rightly described as illegals then why do France let them remain their country.
They can't blame us for not letting them in to our country. How did they get into France in the first place ?
- Michael, Kensington, UK, 20/04/2009 22:17
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Ha! Ha! This stupid Mayor is demanding Euros from the UK Government.
Hasn't anybody told her the UK is BANKRUPT? FINISHED? A POLICE STATE GONE BONKERS?
If Gormless Brown had not sold off the UK gold reserves for a mere pittance when he was languishing in the job as Chancellor of the Exchequer, this two-faced Mayor might have been in line for a few crusts of bread.
I am certain that Gormless Brown will have enough spare change to get himself aboard the gravy train to Brussels pronto.
It cannot happen quickly enough.
JOE PUBLIC HAS HAD ENOUGH.
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe UK, 20/04/2009 18:18
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Id also like to hear what Mrs bouchart has to say about the French port blockades and the millions and millions wasted over the last 20 years every time they go out on strike. Silly woman.
- Dave, Madrid, 20/04/2009 18:00
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Mr Mayor the term is not lax system its gutless politicians. Loony Marxist culture and "ism" have frighten the life out of the shirt lifters in whitehall. So all they can do is hold hands and talk mumbojumbo and huff up each others rectum and wait for the sun to shine. Have a nice day and deal with the problem your own way.
- Mike, London, 20/04/2009 16:46
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During the boom years this government paid lip-service to controlling immigration but actually welcomed it. It was cheap labour for farmers and businessmen who got rich - the latter employed accountants to avoid paying tax. But the immigrants were a drain on public services paid for by ordinary tax payers. Now we have both an economic and social crisis that may well lead to an ugly backlash as unemployment soars towards three and a half or even four million. But what does Brown care about England and its workers?
- Richard, Welling, 20/04/2009 16:44
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Whilst she has a point, she could immediately resolve the situation using EU law. Asylum seekers have to request Asylum in the first European country they enter, so anyone in Calais is immediately inadmissible for claiming asylum in the UK, which means they should be offered asylum in France or be deported. Instead Les Francais ignore the system and turn a blind eye whilst they're jumping on the back of a UK bound lorry, because they’d rather them in someone else’s back yard.
- Bob, Cheam, 20/04/2009 16:23
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Has anyone the same thought as me-this Government WANTED us to be flooded with asylum seekers? Their thinking is that it's a way of providing cheap labour and keeping the flawed economic policies from being rumbled; unfortunately for Nu Lab the recession has exposed them and they are now left with a vastly expanding UK population and benefits bill. The incompetence of the Government ensures that no sensible action is going to be taken to deal with the Calais problem which is only the tip of the iceberg anyway.
- Jon Kent, Hertford. UK, 20/04/2009 16:20
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People claiming asylum should do so in the first country they encounter where they are no longer in fear for their lives. If the French know that these people are asylum seekers (so in fear for their safety in their own country) they should be adequately assessing their claims in France.
- Mark, Liverpool, 20/04/2009 16:19
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She is right but the immigrants are now in France due mainly to Frances and mainland Europe so called Schenzen lax visa and policing regulations and checks.
- Peter Noterfed, Paris, France, 20/04/2009 16:18
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perhaps...and this is just a thought...that the French should get off their backs, stop providing free evrything at Calais, and either 1)Deport them or 2) Give them all French Asylum - problem solved either way! Then again - surely it has nothing to do with the huge social benefits provided by UK PLC - home of the benefit dependant culture that is acting like a magnet for the entire worlds flotsam and jetsam!
- Gary, amersham, 20/04/2009 15:43
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And she's absolutely right!
- Philip, London, England, 20/04/2009 15:32
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Everyone knows only too well what the French are saying
except seemingly this completely inept government.
- Andy, sussex, 20/04/2009 15:21
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