France to begin intercepting small boats in Channel after UK pressure
France has agreed to start stopping small boats in the English Channel, following months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
This policy shift follows the Prime Minister wrote to the President asking him to back the plan and saying there presently "have no effective preventive measure" in the Channel.
French security forces will be allowed to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've picked up their migrants, according to authoritative statements.
French police have rarely intervened to stop the heavily loaded boats departing from the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a danger to both officers and individuals.
"It is essential that we implement these tactics this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Currently, a French maritime police representative says personnel will begin taking action at sea, with the aim of safeguarding lives.
Significantly, the spokesperson ruled out the use of nets to intercept boats, which had earlier been suggested as a possible technique to disable the propellers of the boats.
This determination to intervene at all is a significant advancement, following a brief change towards a more aggressive strategy this warmer season, which dropped off when the former Interior Minister left government.
This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and French president, when French police were observed walking into the sea to damage the hulls of a boat.
Currently French authorities will again be permitted to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking individuals from the coastal areas of northern France, although it's uncertain how the vessels will be prevented.
Powerful gusts are currently delaying the commencement of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be seeking methods to adapt to evade interception, as they have done so often in the previous instances.
The Home Office and the Prime Minister's office have been contacted for response.
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