Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have agreed to “strengthen cooperation” between UK and EU agencies on immigration, Downing Street has said.
The two leaders “underlined that the UK and EU have a shared interest in tackling cross-border crime and people trafficking” during bilateral talks at the Council of Europe meeting in Iceland on Tuesday, a No. 10 spokesman said.
“They agreed to strengthen cooperation between the EU and UK on migration through developing a new working arrangement” between UK agencies and Frontex, the EU border force.
“UK and EU teams will now discuss the details and operationalisation of this new working arrangement,” which will enable the two sides to work together on “critical operational and strategic challenges including the situation in the Channel,” the spokesman added.
The two-day meeting in Reykjavik is focused mainly on ways to hold Russia to account for its invasion of Ukraine, with European leaders expected to sign up to a Register of Damages to ensure the people of Ukraine are compensated for losses incurred as a result of the war.
Cross-Border Cooperation
In his remarks at the opening session of the summit, the prime minister urged European leaders to be “prepared to confront threats to our societies before they become too big to deal with,” including illegal immigration.Sunak said: “The moral case for action is clear—we can’t just sit back and watch as criminal gangs profiteer on people’s misery.
“Illegal migration exploits the most vulnerable. It risks crowding out those with a genuine case for asylum. And it strains the trust that our citizens have—not just in our domestic borders, but in the international system.
“That’s why so many of us are already acting at the national level, and why we need to do more to cooperate across borders and across jurisdictions and to end illegal migration and stop the boats.”
Channel Crisis
According to Home Office figures, 45,755 illegal immigrants arrived in the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats in 2022.Nearly 7,000 illegal immigrants have already arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel this year.
Sunak has made “stopping the boats” one of his five priorities, and has said he is “determined to deliver” on his promise.
The government has put forward an Illegal Migration Bill, which aims to ban anyone who arrives in the UK illegally from claiming asylum.
If it becomes law, illegal entrants will be swiftly removed from the UK to their home country or a safe third country like Rwanda, and will be banned from reentry.
But Britain’s previous attempts to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda has been hampered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), a Strasbourg-based international court of the Council of Europe.
In Reykjavik, Sunak held talks with ECHR President Siofra O’Leary over a review of the working of Rule 39, the order that blocked the inaugural UK deportation flight to Rwanda last year.
People trafficking also came up in the prime minister’s bilateral meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, with whom he agreed to “tackle the scourge” by working together “both bilaterally and through forums such as the European Political Community.”
