FRANCE: Calais at forefront of immigration debate in France as EU elections draw near

Record ID: 348748

  • Title: FRANCE: Calais at forefront of immigration debate in France as EU elections draw near
  • Date: 21st May 2014
  • Summary: CALAIS, FRANCE (MAY 15, 2014) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS WAITING ON SIDE OF ROAD LEADING TO FERRY PORT MIGRANTS RUNNING AND JUMPING ONTO A LORRY HEADED TO FERRY PORT MIGRANTS HIDING IN BUSHES MIGRANTS SITTING ON GROUND AND WAITING FOR TRUCKS TO PASS BY MIGRANTS STANDING AND WAITING POLICE VAN DRIVING PAST (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUDANESE REFUGEE ABDOU SAYING: "My dream is small. Ye
  • Embargoed: 5th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2HC2TM62F3RRUMFYMG8RYNATO
  • Story Text: Clandestine migrants have been part of the landscape of the French port of Calais since 1999.
    Fifteen years marked by significant conflicts like the wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria or the horn of Africa to name a few, has led to a flow of refugees to the northern French town from where trucks and lorries crossing the Channel on ferries, are often boarded by migrants wanting to make the journey across.
    The task is not always simple - many risk their lives to be able to get to Britain where they believe they will be able to lead a better life, a goal that Abdou, a young man who fled Sudan to escape the war shares with his fellow refugees.
    "My dream is small. Yes, I want a house, I want some girl, this is my life, and I want to work, and I want to learn. It's my dream. I don't want anything else," he told Reuters Television.
    Established in 1995, the Schengen zone did away with border controls between 26 EU countries as well as some non-members such as Switzerland and Norway. But Britain did not sign the agreement.
    Italy and France have put immigration reform on the agenda at EU summits, without expecting any real changes.
    A specialist of migration policies and professor at French university Sciences-Po, Francois Gemenne, explained on Tuesday (May 20) that some of the issues -- such as reform of asylum policies -- arouse deep-seated fears of surrendering power to Brussels, or facing an additional financial burden, and that they had been debated for years without result.
    The challenge for a new EU administration would be to put in place a common asylum policy, he said.
    "To me, this is a real challenge so the conditions and the benefits that migrants can receive in different countries are very different and also their hopes to be accepted in different countries can be very different so a migrant can be accepted in one European country and rejected in another European country. We need a better harmonisation of a common asylum policy and we also need a common migration policy in Europe," Gemenne said.
    The abolition of checks among Schengen signatories should have been compensated by increased control from the outside, that nationalist parties say never took place.
    For French far-right and anti-immigrant party, the National Front (FN), which according to current polls could come out on top in France in the European elections on May 25, the only way to contain illegal immigration is to exit Schengen.
    "They (migrants in Calais) try to enter the UK because Schengen does not apply to the UK. You see what I mean? So basically they are stuck in this kind of bottleneck. They find themselves in Calais because we do not control our own borders. If we were able to control our own borders, these people would not be in Calais. That's the problem so there is no other solution that what we are proposing, that is, of exiting the Schengen zone," said FN leader Marine Le Pen.
    Increased checks at European airports led migrants to use routes from southern European countries -- some cross Turkey and Greece, Italy and France, other travel across Sudan, Libya or Egypt to enter Italy and France.
    During their journey migrants face multiple obstacles and sometimes remain in transit for long periods at the entrance of the Schengen zone or exit ports like Calais, considered by them as the gateway to the UK.
    "In general people flock to Calais because they hope to make it to Britain and because they still perceive and see Britain as the country where they will have the most economic opportunities, sometimes they will join some family members or some fellows from their village or from their community over there," said Gemmene.
    One such refugee is Rezakhan, who left his native Bangladesh five years ago and has been living in squalid conditions in one of Calais' camps made of ramshackle tents ever since.
    "I am just looking to pass the UK border, because I have no chance in the European union. There are 27 European union countries. Only UK I can get there I can have some black job to make my life, but here, every time, you see it, I cannot get truck, I cannot get to a metro, I cannot get bus, every time you hate me, you avoid me. What is this? I cannot accept this matter you know," he said.
    "Many people they try every night, everyday to pass the border. Some people are in very risk. Yesterday I was in very risk condition, I got a lorry on the street and it was very very risk to fall down under the tyre you know. But I have no choice because I have to save my life," he added.
    In 1999, The Red Cross set up a huge migrant shelter in a 25,000 square meter-warehouse in Sangatte, on the outskirts of Calais in Sangatte. It was closed in 2002 by right-wing government of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy with the promise of finding an individual solution for each migrant.
    Nothing has happened since and an unofficial spontaneous camp called the "jungle" moved into the suburbs of Calais until it was dismantled in 2009.
    Since then, refugees wanting to cross over to the UK have resettled on two main sites near the city of Calais.
    According to NGOs who have seen their number rise in the past weeks, there could be today up to 600 migrants in these two camps near the French port.
    More people means less access to water, toilets and showers. In Calais, residents say the situation has become unbearable.
    "First off we should close our borders and we should set up immigration quotas because not having immigration quotas brings misery," said Karine a public sector employee in Calais.
    For Laurent, a local restaurant owner, closing Sangatte did not solve the migrant issue, it just moved it to another location.
    "We see these people who, unfortunately, roam around on the streets of Calais, they wander to kill time and so consequently they are in our faces, We tell ourselves, shit, there is something wrong, what are the authorities doing?" he said.
    Like the migrants, Calais residents don't expect much of the outcome of the European elections this week, they feel that everyone is passing the buck. They think that the EU member states do not want to harmonize their policies and they do not want to share their sacred right to decide who they host on their territory.
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