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Italy, Spain and three other southern EU countries have criticised a proposed Franco-British migration deal, arguing it could leave them having to take back people returned from the UK to the continent.
The five nations, which also include Greece, Malta and Cyprus, have sent a letter to the European Commission, seen by the Financial Times, objecting to France negotiating an arrangement to swap asylum seekers with Britain in a bid to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in boats.
“We take note — with a degree of surprise — of the reported intention of France to sign a bilateral readmission arrangement,” the letter reads.
“If confirmed, such an initiative raises serious concerns for us, both procedurally and in terms of potential implications for other member states, particularly those of first entry,” they wrote in the letter sent last week.
The precise terms of the Franco-British deal remain unclear, but the principle would be to return irregular migrants to France while Britain accepted asylum seekers seeking resettlement. Such swaps were first attempted in the EU’s migration deal with Turkey to stem boat crossings to Greece.
A British official admitted that “the final hurdles are taking longer than expected” as some EU countries “are more onboard than others”. French President Emmanuel Macron is due to visit London on July 8.
As part of the “reset” agreement signed in May, the EU and the UK pledged to work on “practical and innovative approaches” to reduce irregular migration. But divisions within the EU and demands from the UK prevented a wider agreement on migration.
The UK has instead pushed for bilateral agreements with European capitals on the most sensitive issue of “small boats”. In the year to March, 38,000 people crossed the Channel in small vessels, according to the government.
The Mediterranean group objected to France negotiating the deal with the UK bilaterally, rather than as a part of the EU-UK “reset” deal.
The five signatories — often the first port of call for people making the perilous journey to Europe from Africa — are concerned that the initiative would mean France would, using EU rules, return asylum seekers to the first country of entry, where their asylum claim should be processed.
“We believe it is essential to clarify whether the agreement may produce any direct or indirect consequences for other member states,” the countries wrote.
The letter comes after UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer sought advice from Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni on curbing irregular migration.
One EU official said that there had been “a very strong front on the side of the EU that there is no cherry picking” in the negotiations with the UK, and they were disappointed that the issue had been exempted from this. “We would have preferred it to be in the context of our joint negotiations.”
The proposed asylum seeker swap between France and the UK mirrors a 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey in which the bloc agreed to take a Syrian refugee from refugee camps in Turkey in return for every Syrian returned by Greece, who had crossed the border irregularly.
While there are few actual swaps, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did halt the outflow of Syrian refugees as the EU also agreed to pay Ankara €6bn in migration assistance. That amount has since been topped up to more than €12bn.
The European Commission confirmed it had received the letter. “We are in contact with the French and the UK authorities to ensure the necessary clarifications are made,” said a spokesperson. “We are working with France and the UK as well as other EU member states to support solutions compatible with the spirit and letter of EU law.”
The Commission added that the increase in people smuggling across the Channel was “alarming” and merited “a robust response to deter dangerous journeys”.
Additional reporting by Anna Gross in London, Adrienne Klasa in Paris and Andy Bounds in Brussels.
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