Macron in the UK: Paris and London agree on a migrant exchange project

France and the United Kingdom agreed on Thursday, July 10, on a pilot project to exchange migrants following Emmanuel Macron's state visit, as Channel crossings reach record numbers.

This agreement, which still has to be submitted to the European Commission before being signed, is based on the " one for one" principle: it provides for the return to France of a migrant arriving by small boat , in exchange for which London agrees to accept an asylum seeker with ties, particularly family ties, with the United Kingdom.

"For the first time, migrants arriving by small boat will be arrested and then quickly returned to France," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at a press conference at the Northwood military base (north-west London), welcoming a "groundbreaking" agreement on a project likely to start "in the coming weeks."

More than 21,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since the start of the year, a record number that is increasing pressure on the Labour leader as Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK party gains traction in the public eye.

Emmanuel Macron, for his part, blamed Brexit , stressing that since then there has been "no migration agreement with the European Union" and that this creates an "incentive" to cross the Channel. He said that this pilot project "will have a very deterrent effect on the model of people smugglers and on crossings."

No figures were provided for this agreement, reached after intense negotiations during a bilateral summit at the conclusion of a three-day state visit by the French president, the first for an EU head of state since Brexit in 2020.

The figure of 50 migrants exchanged per week, which was cited in the press as insufficient by British media and the Conservative opposition, has not been confirmed.

"This deal is a humiliation," Nigel Farage blasted. "We acted like a member of the European Union and bowed down to an arrogant French president," he wrote on X.

The NGO Doctors Without Borders, for its part, judged that this project was "not only absurd" , but "also extremely dangerous" .

Five EU countries, including Spain, Greece and Italy, had for their part expressed their "concern" in June, calling for "a joint and coordinated approach between EU member states" .