Commission frees up cash for Calais migrant crisis

By Tara Palmeri

Nearly €50 million was transferred to the United Kingdom and France to help.

The European Commission transferred nearly €50 million to the United Kingdom and France to tackle the influx of asylum seekers and migrants crossing under the English channel by way of the French port of Calais.

Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avromopoulos unlocked €20 million for France Tuesday in addition to the €27 million that had already been allotted to the U.K. from the Commission’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund after late afternoon calls with British Home Secretary Theresa May and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

“At this stage, neither France nor the U.K. have requested additional assistance and I have full trust in their ability to manage the situation,” Avromopoulos said in a statement following the call.

“More generally, the situation in Calais is another stark example of the need for a greater level of solidarity and responsibility in the way we deal with migratory pressures in Europe; it is one piece of a bigger puzzle that requires a broad set of responses.”

May and Cazeneuve made a strong call to the EU on Sunday for help in dealing with a flood of thousands of migrants, primarily from the Middle East and Africa, who are making the dangerous trek across the Channel Tunnel into the U.K.

“This situation cannot be seen as an issue just for our two countries,” the two ministers wrote in an editorial in the Sunday Telegraph.

“It is a priority at both a European and international level. Many of those in Calais and attempting to cross the Channel have made their way there through Italy, Greece or other countries. That is why we are pushing other member states – and the whole of the EU – to address this problem at root.”

While the U.K. is the largest beneficiary of the AMIF program with €370 million  in funding from 2014 to 2020 and France is the third largest at €266 million, the two nations implied that the EU has not been doing enough to help. The commission already dispersed €3.78 million to France this year for Calais.

In addition to unlocking funds, the Commission pledged Tuesday to help process asylum applications and to use Frontex border patrol to deal with irregular migrants who cannot attain asylum status.

“We can offer some economic help within the asylum envelope, we can also offer some technical help to help to process the asylum applications,” said trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom at press conference in Brussels Tuesday.

“We have not heard any formal complaints or that there should be a problem with the trade and movement of goods between France and the UK.”

Paris and London have largely avoided pointing fingers at each other over the crisis, but Cazeneuve has criticized his U.K. counterpart for not doing enough to beef up security at the French port.

“I think they must go further,” he told the French daily La Croix. He said he asked May for “greater mobilization” of British resources.

EU officials also must remain aware that the Calais issue could fuel support for a “Brexit,” as Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum on EU membership as soon as next year.