France backing away from pledge to intercept migrant boats, sources tell BBC

France is backing away from its recent commitment to intervene more forcefully at sea to prevent small boats from crossing the English Channel, according to multiple sources contacted by the BBC.

There is evidence to suggest that the current political unrest in France is partly to blame, but it will come as a blow to the UK government’s attempts to address the issue.

Meanwhile, dangerously overcrowded rubber boats continue to leave the coast almost daily, from a shallow tidal channel near the port of Dunkirk.

While Martin Hewitt, the man responsible for UK border security, has expressed his “frustration” at the French delay, the BBC has now heard from a number of sources in France that promises of a new “naval doctrine” – which would see patrol boats attempt to intercept inflatable boats and return them to shore – are hollow.

“It’s just a political ploy. It’s nonsense,” said one figure closely linked to French maritime security.

The canal’s maritime administration told the BBC that the new principle regarding taxi boats “is still under study.”

Former Interior Minister Bruno Ritello was widely credited, especially in the UK, with leading a more aggressive approach to the Channel.

This culminated last July with a summit between President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The focus was then on plans to intercept the so-called “taxi boats” now used by smugglers to sail close to the coast, and collect passengers already standing in the water.

French police rarely intervene against overcrowded taxi boats because they are considered a great danger to both officers and civilians.

But days before the summit. We saw French police wading into the seasouth of Boulogne, for smashing the sides of a taxi boat when it got caught in the waves and drifted close to shore.

In London, the Prime Minister’s spokesman immediately responded to the footage we published, calling it a “really important moment” and evidence that the French are already starting to take tougher measures to stop small boats on shore, and possibly at sea.

Shortly after, a senior source in the French Interior Ministry told the BBC that policy changes were imminent.

The source said, “We will begin interventions at sea during the next few days after reviewing the doctrine.”

But since then, Ritello has lost his job as minister in the latest chaotic cabinet reshuffle, and the distracted French government appears to be focusing on other crises.

“It’s possible that (the new measures at sea) will never happen,” said Peter Walsh, who researches the issue at the Oxford Migration Observatory.

Meanwhile, migrant boats are still leaving France, and not just from the beaches.

A retired chip shop owner who lives next to a canal inland from the coast at Gravelines said he saw four leave in one day.

He showed us videos of the boats, including images of people jostling aboard in the middle of the canal, and a police patrol boat recently circling another rubber dinghy without trying to stop it from leaving.

“It’s crazy, crazy, crazy. You have to stop the boats,” Jan Dildek said.

One marine expert, who asked us not to use his name because of his close ties to the state, said the Canal de la was shallow enough for security forces to intervene without putting people’s lives in serious danger.

Other canals and rivers in the region have sometimes been blocked with ropes or chains, but these have often proven ineffective against the highly adaptable smuggling gangs.

While French policy played a clear role in thwarting the British government’s attempts to slow the number of small boat crossings, legal and ethical issues also proved important.

One of the main obstacles, mentioned by several sources, to stopping rubber boats at sea is the fear that this will inevitably lead to more deaths and prosecution of the security forces involved.

One source said: “The French Navy is against it. They realize that this type of mission is very dangerous and they risk getting involved and ending up in court. It would be a disaster.”

Even the less ambitious idea, mooted by British officials, of giving French police more legal freedom to intervene from the beaches and deeper into the water to stop the boats, was rejected. If, in fact, it was really considered.

Current rules allow French police and firefighters to intervene only in shallow waters to rescue people who appear to be in imminent danger. This is clearly what we witnessed at Ecolt Beach near Boulogne in early July.

There has been confusion from the beginning about France’s commitment to this issue. Several French security sources told us that convincing the police to stop the boats by wading into the sea was never a remote possibility.

But French unions indicated that the changes had been considered and rejected.

Police union spokesman Jean-Pierre Cloys said the Interior Minister’s plans put forward earlier this year were now “on hold”.

“We considered that at the time [too] dangerous. The rules, for now, are the same. “There is no change in the way we do things.”

Mr. Cloyes and others also pointed to persistent shortages of equipment, training and staff.

None of this means that France is abandoning its commitment to police its shores, or to intercept smugglers and their boats on land.

The operation is large and sophisticated, extending along more than 150 kilometers (90 mi) of coastline.

A large share of the work is paid by the UK under the terms of the Treaty of Sandhurst, which is currently being renegotiated for renewal next year.

Meanwhile, volunteer rescue teams working along the northern French coast continue to pull people, and sometimes bodies, from the water.

Some volunteers expressed frustration that maritime authorities repeatedly asked them to escort inflatable boats towards British waters: a process that could take several hours.

But they also highlighted the unique challenges facing anyone seeking to intervene in the canal.

“Although it may seem strange, if they don’t ask for help, you can’t force them to accept it,” says Gerard Baron, head of Boulogne’s sea rescue volunteers.

“The crew told me that sometimes, when they approached a boat carrying a large number of people and asked if they wanted help, they saw knives flashing.

“They have also, on occasion, seen young men carrying babies over the water, threatening to drop them if we get any closer.”

After 45 years of experience in rescue operations, Baron admits to some exasperation with France’s current failure to do more to stop smugglers.

It is believed that if the current rules against sailing in flimsy, unlicensed and overcrowded boats were enforced, many lives would be saved.

Additional reporting by Paul Prader