Le Figaro<\/a>. Bouchart, who has served as Mayor since 2008 as a member of the centre-right Republicans party, spoke with de Malherbe on Face \u00e0 Face, BFM\u2019s morning political talk show, on September 17th. She said that the activists \u201cencourage\u201d migrants \u201cto stay in places that are not suitable for them.\u201d She went on to say that \u201cby helping and accompanying them in Calais, by not wanting to contribute to the proposal of the State services to remove them from the town or the coast, the activists are helping to organise the fact that they may cross at some point.\u201d The Office of the Mayor did not respond to a request for comment. Her remarks show difficulties in her relationship with local aid organisations, the national government in Paris, and the new UK government.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe interview took place in the context of the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel announcing the deaths of eight migrants who were trying to cross the Channel in a small boat on September 15th. On September 3rd, 12 migrants, including six children and a pregnant woman, drowned trying to make the crossing. According to the International Organisation for Migration, 47 people have now died trying to make the crossing this year.<\/p>\n
Utopia 56, a French aid organisation that operates in Calais, took to X to criticize Bouchart\u2019s comments. The organisation\u2019s X account said, \u201cAccording to the mayor of Calais, when you help, you become an accomplice to the smugglers and are responsible for the deaths in the Channel. You can discuss this with the sea rescue services, @NatachaBouchart. This dangerous rhetoric serves the extreme right and leads to violent attacks.\u201d Utopia 56 did not respond to a request for further comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Felix Thompson, a spokesperson for Calais Appeal, an umbrella group of 8 grassroots organizations in Calais, told me, \u201cNobody here would encourage anyone to cross the channel or break the law.\u201d He said, \u201cWe do humanitarian work, keeping people alive, clothed, and fed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also echoed Utopia 56\u2019s concern about the far right in Calais. \u201cIt\u2019s gotten worse since the European parliament elections,\u201d he said. On June 9th, National Rally, a far-right political party formerly known as National Front, won the largest vote share in France the latest European Parliament elections. Weeks later, after President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election, the National Rally took control of 10 of the 12 constituencies in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, where Calais is the largest city. He told me that swastikas had started appearing near a safe house run by the group. He also told me, \u201cI have friends who are volunteers and also people of colour who\u2019ve had urine thrown on them.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month. Bouchart said the UK government\u2019s stance was \u201chypocritical\u201d given its labour laws and lack of repatriations. Working in the UK requires fewer official documents than in France, so the UK is seen as a more attractive option by many migrants. She said it was necessary to use a \u201cfist of iron to deal with this government\u201d and that \u201cthere will have to be a showdown\u201d at some point. The X account of Officers and Commissioners of Police, the majority union of internal security officers in France, quote tweeted the interview saying, \u201cAre we finally going to call into question the Touquet accords?\u201d referring to the 2002 agreement that allowed Britain to externalise its border on the French coast without the opportunity to claim asylum there. Sarah Berry, who works for Roots, an aid organisation in Dunkirk, France, told me, \u201cWhat we really need is safe routes for migrants to get to the UK and claim asylum\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Home Office figures say that 1519 migrants arrived in the week ending September 22nd and that 623 migrants had been prevented from leaving France or returned in the same time. The Home Office released figures today showing that 192 migrants arrived in the UK on small boats from France last week.<\/p>\n
The figures come as immigration takes centre stage at the Conservative Party Conference. The four-day conference began yesterday. The Times of London reported that former Minister Andrew Griffith said that the party could win back voters by focussing on immigration. Meanwhile, Conservative party leader-hopeful Robert Jenrick has pledged a hard cap on migration to the UK, saying that the former Conservative government had been \u201ctoo liberal\u201d in its approach to migration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss migration. The Prime Minister told journalists he was \u201cinterested\u201d in Italy\u2019s development of an external migrant processing centre in Albania and that he had \u201clong believed that prevention and stopping people travelling in the first place is one of the best ways to deal with this particular issue.” It is unclear what lessons the Prime Minister has taken from the visit and whether his policies will be acceptable to the French. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CALAIS, FRANCE \u2014 The Mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, has criticised \u201cactivists\u201d in Calais coming from \u201cEuropean countries and Great Britain\u201d to \u201cease their consciences\u201d in an interview with BFM\u2019s Apolline de Malherbe.\u00a0 Bouchart\u2019s comments blaming activists in Calais come mere weeks after she attacked the UK government in an interview with Le Figaro. Bouchart,<\/p>\n
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