MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — The United Kingdom displays a hypocritical attitude to the refugee crisis in the French port city of Calais, the city’s deputy mayor, Philippe Mignonet, told Sputnik.
"The English attitude is pure hypocrisy. They say it is the Schengen space responsibility, it is the French responsibility and the city of Calais is not doing anything. First of all, it is not the role of the city to deal with that, the problem is far too big for a city," Mignonet said.
Mignonet urged London to change the law, including providing more stringent identity card verification.
The United Kingdom attracts asylum seekers partially due to quick application review times. While the newly-arrived wait for a decision, they are provided with housing and social benefits.
According to the British government, in the twelve month period ending April 2015, there were 39,000 attempts to illegally cross the Channel, more than doubling the previous period’s figure.
The issue of undocumented immigration in the United Kingdom is also high on the agenda, with UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond saying Sunday that asylum seekers represent a menace to the European standard of living and should be returned to their country of origin.
French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls must not only talk, but take action to resolve the migration crisis in the northern France city of Calais, Philippe Mignonet said.
"Only French Home Office Minister is worried about the situation, but of course he has two bosses – the Prime Minister Mr. Valls and the President Mr. Hollande, and both of those two are not doing anything about it, they talk, but they don’t act, they don’t do anything," Mignonet said.
In recent weeks there have been thousands of attempts by refugees to cross the 31-mile tunnel separating the French town of Coquelles, near Calais, from Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom. The attempts have resulted in the deaths of several migrants and significant traffic disruption in the tunnel under the English Channel. Some 4,000 migrants are currently living in abject squalor in camps in Calais.
The deputy mayor stressed that Calais is not a participant in meetings between French and English ministers resulting in decisions that affect the city being "taken for the city of Calais by people who are far away from Calais."
Europe is struggling to solve an ongoing refugee crisis caused by a rapid influx of undocumented immigrants, many of whom make a dangerous sea journey to escape economic hardship and war in Africa and the Middle East, such as Sudan, Eritrea, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
The UN Refugee Agency documented 137,000 refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea into Europe in the first six months of 2015, compared to 75,000 during the same period in the previous year.
Nearly 2,000 have drowned at sea trying to reach Europe in 2015, according to UN data.
The snowballing refugee crisis in the French port city of Calais is ruining the image of the city and deterring potential investors, Philippe Mignonet said.
"What is damaged is the image of the city because everybody speaks about the migrants in Calais, the conditions they live, the image of the Calais is killed because of the situation. Calais is a sacrificed city because of the lack of courage of certain persons," Mignonet said.
He underlined that Calais is one of France’s poorest cities; with unemployment standing at 17 percent and a persistent refugee crisis that does nothing to encourage new investors.
"You meet an investor who says I am ready to build in Calais a logistic plant, I could employ there 1000 persons, but I won’t do it, if the migrants problem is as it is at the moment," Mignonet explained.
The deputy mayor said there is not an accurate refugee census in the Calais camps, but estimates make it about 4,000 people from some 23 countries. Most have fled conflict-torn countries of North Africa and the Middle East in an attempt to get asylum in Britain.
In recent weeks thousands of refugees have attempted to cross the 31-mile tunnel separating the French town of Coquelles, near Calais, from Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom. The attempts have resulted in the deaths of several refugees and significant traffic disruption in the tunnel under the English Channel.
