UK, Germany & France to cooperate on trafficking

Five European countries including the UK, France and Germany agreed on Tuesday to jointly step up the fight against people-trafficking, as London and Berlin signed a bilateral commitment to tackle the gangs.

France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the Netherlands' migration minister Marjolein Faber, and Belgium's migration minister Nicole de Moor and Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden, all joined UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Britain's border security commander Martin Hewitt for Tuesday's meeting in London.

Ex-police chief Hewitt was appointed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in September to help deliver on his pre-election pledge to "smash" the people smuggling gangs.

A growing issue among European nations, rising irregular migration was also one of the main themes that dominated the UK's July election which swept Starmer's Labour Party to power.

So far this year nearly 34,000 undocumented migrants have reached British shores across the English Channel, arriving on dangerous, flimsy vessels. At least 70 people have died, making 2024 the deadliest year on record.

Berlin's interior ministry told AFP that under the bilateral agreement with the UK, signed on Monday, it will look at "clarifying" the law surrounding activities carried out in Germany in preparation for smuggling people across the Channel.

"This will give German prosecutors more tools to tackle the supply and storage of dangerous small boats equipment and allow the UK and Germany to better counter the continually evolving tactics of people smuggling gangs," said the UK interior ministry. Net legal migration to the UK is also running at historically high levels, estimated at 728,000 for the year to June 2024, while the toppling of president Bashar al-Assad threatens a period of instability in Syria that smuggling gangs could look to exploit