EU to release €20 Million to France to help with migrants

NEW YORK — The European Commission will provide France with €20 million (S$30.1 million) to cope with waves of would-be migrants from north Africa and the Middle East.

France and the UK are trying to stop hundreds of migrants attempting to use the Channel Tunnel to reach Britain from the French port city of Calais. UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who was criticised by opposition leaders after describing African migrants to Europe as “a swarm,” pledged additional aid to France on July 31.

The aid is the first tranche of more than €266 million reserved for France in the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and more than €370 million designated for the UK through 2020, according to a statement published yesterday (Aug 4) by the commission, the EU’s executive branch in Brussels.

“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,” Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said in the statement. “It is one piece of a bigger puzzle that requires a broad set of responses,”

Mr Avramopoulos held talks with French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and with UK Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday to discuss the situation in Calais, according to the release. Neither country has requested additional assistance, he said. BLOOMBERG