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France will push for action on migration when it hosts the presidency of the European Union from January, President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, and he pledged to crack down quickly on illegal migrant camps in the north of France. France takes over the rotating EU presidency in six weeks as the bloc faces a new crisis with Belarus that generates significant flows of migrants https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/more- migrants-try-enter -poland-belorussia-east-west-standoff-2021-11-18 by flying them from the Middle East and pushing them to attempt to illegally cross its borders into Poland and Lithuania.
In an interview with the northern regional newspaper La Voix du Nord, Macron said ministers would act in the coming weeks. “We must take several actions: prevent the establishment of sustainable camps, act to dismantle the networks of smugglers and strengthen work with countries of origin to prevent these flows,” he said. “I will carry reforms under the French presidency of the EU.
The bloc has been deeply divided for years on the issue. Reluctant eastern members of the EU, the wealthy northern states where many newcomers aspire to live and the countries on the Mediterranean shore where they mainly arrive have clashed over where to locate people since the 2015 migration crisis began. showed that existing EU migration rules were inadequate.
European diplomats say finding compromises on these divisions during the French EU presidency will likely prove even more difficult given that the usual six-month term will be eclipsed by the French presidential elections. For Macron, appearing to act on migration is important given that conservative and far-right parties will seek to focus part of the debate on the issue of migrants, on which he is deemed weaker.
With some 22,000 migrants crossing the Channel this year, Macron also said there was a problem between London and Paris. “We have the British, who oscillate between partnership and provocation. We need to further strengthen collaboration,” Macron said. “If those who want to join Britain have family there, it has to be part of family reunification. If they are smuggled, we have to break this system.”
(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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