FRANCE: MIGRANTS AT THE RED CROSS CAMP IN SANGATTE SEEM UNPHASED BY EU PLANS TO TIGHTEN UP BORDER CONTROL

Record ID: 347639

  • Title: FRANCE: MIGRANTS AT THE RED CROSS CAMP IN SANGATTE SEEM UNPHASED BY EU PLANS TO TIGHTEN UP BORDER CONTROL
  • Date: 22nd June 2002
  • Summary: SANGATTE, FRANCE (JUNE 22, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV OF CROSS CHANNEL TUNNEL THROUGH WHICH MANY OF THE MIGRANTS CROSS INTO BRITAIN ILLEGALLY 0.07 2. LV/SLV EMERGENCY VEHICLE DRIVING ALONG ROAD NEXT TO TRAIN TRACK AND CHANNEL TUNNEL ENTRANCE (2 SHOTS) 0.16 3. LV CROSS CHANNEL TRAIN (MANY MIGRANTS TRAVEL THROUGH THE CHANNEL TUNNEL T
  • Embargoed: 7th July 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SANGATTE, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA5JLIC0O2DGVFN6JDTPXQG1Q4U
  • Story Text: Migrants at the Red Cross camp in Sangatte which is at
    the centre of a dispute between France and England seem
    unphased by EU plans unveiled on Saturday to tighten up border
    controls to stem illegal immigration.



    At the meeting in Seville on Saturday (June 22), the
    EU leaders set a timetable for measures to stem an influx of
    illegal migrants into the wealthy 15-nation bloc.

    Joint border police operations are to start by the end of
    this year but the leaders insisted their crackdown, prompted
    by far-right election gains in several EU countries, had a
    human face and was balanced by moves to integrate legal
    immigrants.

    Britain, Spain, Germany and Italy failed to persuade the
    two-day summit to back economic sanctions against countries
    that fail to combat people smuggling and comply with EU
    demands to take back rejected immigrants.

    Instead the leaders agreed to offer positive incentives to
    enlist the cooperation of third states and threatened
    unspecified political measures if they do not sign and enforce
    readmission agreements with the EU.

    The new rules will ultimately affect migrants at places
    like the French town of Sangatte, where hundreds live at a Red
    Cross camp set up by France to house migrants who are trying
    to get to England. The camp has become the centre of
    discussions between France and England.

    Refugees at the camp waited anxiously on Saturday for the
    decision of the EU leaders.

    Most refused to talk to reporters, but one Afghan man said
    he felt that if people faced repression or death in their home
    countries they had no choice but to try to leave to seek a
    better life.

    A French woman from the town of Sangatte said she felt
    that if people were treated harshly by their home countries
    they should be helped, however, she said the town of Sangatte
    was already overflowing with migrants.

    Hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants from Africa,
    eastern Europe, the Middle East, central Asia and China try to
    enter the European Union annually, mainly by its eastern land
    border and across the Mediterranean.

    The European Commission estimates half a million illegal
    migrants enter the EU each year, in addition to some 680,000
    legal immigrants. Some 370 million people live in the EU.





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