France will start stopping small boats in English Channel after British demands
France has agreed to begin stopping small boats in the Channel, after months of pressure from the United Kingdom.
The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister sent a letter to the President urging him to support the initiative and stating there presently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French security forces will be allowed to intercept the small boats at sea, but exclusively prior to they've picked up their passengers, according to authoritative confirmation.
French authorities have rarely acted to prevent the overcrowded boats departing from the coastline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both officers and civilians.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson states officers will start intervening at sea, with the objective of protecting lives.
Significantly, the spokesperson excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been reported as a possible method to snarl the propellers of the vessels.
The decision to take action at all is a significant step forward, following a short-lived shift towards a more aggressive approach this summer, which ceased when the previous government official left government.
This was demonstrated in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the Prime Minister and President, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to damage the sides of a vessel.
Now French officials will again be allowed to stop boats prior to they pick up migrant individuals from the beaches of northern France, however it's not clear how the vessels will be prevented.
Strong winds are currently postponing the start of interceptions and the people-smuggling networks will be looking for methods to adapt to avoid interception, as they have done so often in the past.
UK immigration authorities and the Prime Minister's office have been contacted for response.
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