France is pressing Britain to abandon its bilateral Channel migration agreement and replace it with an EU-wide system that would require the UK to accept asylum seekers from across the bloc in return for taking back migrants who cross the Channel.
Laurent Nunez, France’s interior minister, told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that Paris wants to end the existing “one in, one out” arrangement and incorporate Britain into a wider agreement with all 27 EU member states.
Under the French proposal, Britain would retain the ability to return migrants who cross the Channel from Europe, but would accept asylum seekers deemed to have legitimate claims from other EU countries.
“For our part, we want to move away from this bilateral relationship with the UK,” Nunez told a French parliamentary inquiry.
“We consider that France should not have to carry it alone, and that it would be better to integrate it into an agreement between the EU and UK.
“So I have already clearly told my counterpart that this pilot agreement, which we signed in August 2025, was not intended to be renewed beyond October 1, 2026.”
Asked whether an EU-wide replacement could be negotiated before the existing arrangement expires, Nunez said: “There is an action plan, there is interest, but it would be naive of me to tell you there will be a mechanism to bridge the gap.”
The proposal threatens to put Paris at odds with the British government, which wants the current arrangement extended.
Mahmood has been seeking to make the scheme permanent and increase the number of Channel migrants returned to France, arguing that greater removals could help deter further crossings.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham also urged French President Emmanuel Macron to maintain the arrangement during their first bilateral meeting last week.
So far, about 1,400 Channel migrants have been returned to France under the agreement, with a broadly similar number of asylum seekers transferred to Britain in return.
An EU-wide arrangement could significantly broaden the system, potentially involving all 27 member states in decisions over which migrants Britain could return and which asylum seekers it would accept.
Britain previously participated in the EU’s Dublin system, which established rules for determining which European country was responsible for processing an asylum claim.
The French proposal faces opposition within the EU, however. Southern European countries including Italy and Greece, which receive large numbers of migrants arriving at the bloc’s external borders, are understood to fear they could bear a disproportionate share of migrants returned from Britain.
The European Commission has indicated that it will not support a new arrangement until member states reach a compromise.
There are also divisions within France. Officials are concerned about the difficulty of deporting migrants returned from Britain to their countries of origin, while France faces a presidential election next year.
Macron is understood to be more receptive to extending the existing bilateral agreement than Nunez.
The dispute comes as Channel crossings have fallen more than 40 per cent so far this year, with average arrivals during favourable weather conditions down 38 per cent.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government’s agreement with France has been extended until autumn.
“This will ensure we will continue to remove migrants who arrive on small boats over the summer.”
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