Gerald Darmanin denounces London’s “lack of humanity” towards Ukrainian refugees who have returned to Calais
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Saturday criticized Britain’s “totally inadequate response” and “lack of humanity” towards Ukrainian refugees who returned to Calais in a letter to his British counterpart Priti Patel. Eager to join their families across the English Channel, some 150 Ukrainians fleeing their Russian-invaded country have received requests from British consular officials in recent days to “turn around” and “go to Paris or Brussels” to obtain visas. Minister in this letter, which was read by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Gérald Darmanin continues by criticizing the “completely inadequate response” and “lack of humanity” towards refugees “in distress”, “often women with small children, the elderly or the disabled”. According to the Minister of Internal Affairs, since the beginning of the war, “more than 400 citizens of Ukraine” have arrived in Calais.
Their situation has been a source of friction between London and Paris for several days now, relations between which have already become strained due to the problem of illegal migrants. On Thursday, the French government announced that the UK would set up a “kind of consulate” in Calais to issue visas directly to Ukrainians. “It is very important that your consular office, in exceptional cases and during a crisis, can issue visas for family reunification directly in Calais,” recalls Gerald Darmanin.
“It would be incomprehensible if consular reinforcements were deployed for this purpose throughout Europe, right up to Ukraine, and closer to your border is not the same,” he says. “There have been too many human tragedies on our shores,” he concludes, referring to the shipwreck that claimed the lives of 27 migrants at the end of November, “let’s not add to this the crash of these Ukrainian families. »