The European Union agreed to collaborate with the UK on stopping illegal migration across the English Channel, in a boost to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has made halting the small boats one of his key pledges.
(Bloomberg) — The European Union agreed to collaborate with the UK on stopping illegal migration across the English Channel, in a boost to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has made halting the small boats one of his key pledges.
A meeting between Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen on the margins of the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik late Tuesday led to the breakthrough after a six-month deadlock, according to UK officials. Now there will be negotiations over a deal to exchange intelligence, expertise and personnel to combat people smuggling as the UK works with Frontex, the EU border agency, said the officials, who asked not to be identified in line with briefing rules.
“We need to do more to co-operate across borders and across jurisdictions to end illegal migration and stop the boats,” Sunak said in a statement. Von der Leyen said in a tweet after meeting the UK leader that she had “expressed commission support for a future UK-Frontex operational working arrangement.”
The accord marks another thaw in relations with the EU after Sunak’s success in agreeing the Windsor Framework to free up trade routes to Northern Ireland, the last piece of the Brexit jigsaw.
It should also boost Sunak at home, where he’s under pressure to make good on a pledge to “stop the boats,” and comes ahead of official figures due this month which are expected to show legal net migration for 2022 is between 650,000 and 997,000.
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