PARIS — France aims to stop more boats carrying migrants from crossing the English Channel bound for the U.K. by changing its rules of engagement and intercepting vessels, the French interior ministry told POLITICO.
French authorities can currently only intervene to rescue a vessel if it faces life-threatening danger at sea, but the new proposal would allow them to become involved up to 300 meters off shore regardless of whether the boat looks like it’s at risk.
“The joint upstream fight against irregular cross-Channel immigration and smuggling networks is intensifying,” the ministry said.
The ministry said the number of migrants on the boats was up 42 percent this year compared to 2024 partially due to favorable weather conditions, an influx of nationals from the Horn of Africa and the evolving methods of smugglers.
It added that while there hadn’t been an increase in the absolute number of boats or a decrease in the proportion of boats intercepted, the average number of passengers on each boat had gone up.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has repeatedly called for tougher action from France after images of authorities watching boats set off for England without any intervention appeared in British newspapers. Cooper had urged France to complete its maritime review of operational tactics and to implement changes “as swiftly as possible.”
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made “smashing the gangs” a central aim of his government’s agenda to tackle migration and neutralize the rise of Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party.
Small boats crossings across the English Channel also affected Starmer’s predecessor Rishi Sunak, whose failure to “stop the boats” contributed to the Tories’ landslide election defeat last year.
Starmer is expected to address the issue when French President Emmanuel Macron makes his own trip to the U.K. next month for a state visit and summit.
Annabelle Dickson contributed to this report.
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