Calais border will ‘DEFINITELY’ move to Britain, French presidential frontrunner declares
THE French government will "definitely" move the border at Calais to Britain as a consequence of Brexit, France’s presidential election frontrunner has claimed.
Arnaud Danjean, a spokesperson for Alain Juppe's election campaign, said the frontrunner plans to close the border at Calais to avoid the "negative burden" of migrants awaiting entry into Britain being detained on French soil.
Mr Danjean described moving the border as an "uncomfortable consequence" of Britain's decision to leave the EU.
Mr Juppe has previously called for France's border with the UK to be moved to the Kent coast and had demanded a complete renegotiation of Le Touquet accord - the 2003 agreement under which border checks take place on the French side of the Channel.
Mr Danjean said: “When it comes to border management, we will have to find a new agreement, definitely, because you can’t make as if nothing has happened.
“And we all know that the vote for Brexit was mainly expressed because of migration and immigration issues.
"So, it has an impact and we cannot continue like this.
“I cannot imagine a French politician and a French president telling people, ‘Well, you know, the Brits have decided to leave but we have to enforce the border at our border’.
French politician Alain Juppé sets sights on presidency
We can’t tolerate what is going on in Calais, the image is disastrous for our country and there are also extremely serious economic and security consequences for the people of Calais
“This would be very hard to explain.”
Mr Danjean added: "On this very important issue of border management, an effort should be made also on the British side."
Mr Juppe has previously said: “We can’t tolerate what is going on in Calais, the image is disastrous for our country and there are also extremely serious economic and security consequences for the people of Calais.”
But Whitehall has hit back at the idea of moving the border, claiming that the 2003 Le Touquet agreement was agreed between France and Britain independently of the EU.
Downing Street has said it is "committed to working together to protect our shared border in Calais" and hopes to maintain current controls.