CALAIS : French President Emmanuel Macron appealed Thursday to neighboring European countries to do more to stop illegal migration into France after at least 27 people died trying to cross the English Channel.
Macron said that when migrants arrive on French shores with hopes of heading to Britain “it is already too late.”
Speaking a day after the deadliest migration tragedy to date on the dangerous sea lane that separates France and Britain, Macron said France is deploying army drones as part of stepped-up efforts to patrol its northern coastline and help rescue migrants at sea.
Migration is an explosive issue in Europe, where leaders often accuse one another of not doing enough to either prevent migrants from entering their countries or from continuing on to other nations.
Ministers from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Britain and EU officials will meet on Sunday to discuss increasing efforts to crack down on migrant-smuggling networks, Macron’s government announced.
They will convene in Calais, one of the French coastal towns where migrants gather, looking for ways to cross to British shores that are visible from France on clear days. Seaside communities on both sides of the channel were reeling Thursday from the sinking’s gruesome toll in waters crisscrossed by hulking freighters and often whipped up by treacherous weather, waves and currents.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said children and pregnant women were among the dead. Two survivors from the sinking were treated for hypothermia. One is Iraqi, the other Somali, Darmanin said. He said authorities are working to determine the victims’ nationalities.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday it was clear that French operations to stop migrant boats from leaving French shores “haven’t been enough.”
Macron advocated an immediate funding boost for the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, according to his office.
