As part of a new deal with Frontex, Britain will be able to access EU intelligence on human trafficking. Britain and the EU hope the measure improves cross-Channel operations to prevent irregular migration.
The UK will secure access to the European Union's intelligence on criminal networks involved in human trafficking as part of an agreement with Frontex, the bloc's border surveillance agency. UK and EU officials officially sign the agreement in London on Friday (February 23).
The deal is intended to facilitate better information exchange and new technologies between the UK and the EU, as well as train officials to stem irregular migration in a post-Brexit world, the British government announced.
"Organized immigration crime and people smuggling are global challenges that require shared solutions and ambitions," said British Home Secretary James Cleverly.
The UK will not pay the EU as part of the deal, a Home Office spokesperson noted.
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The UK does not have migrant return agreements with the EU since it left the bloc in 2020. The coordination of cross-English Channel operations between the UK and France has faced some major obstacles since Brexit.
The British conservative government under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made preventing the arrival of irregular migrant boats across the English Channel one of its five priorities – a move it hopes would revamp its popularity at a general election expected later this year.
Last year, around 36,000 people tried to reach the UK using irregular means of migration from the northern coast of France.
With Reuters and AFP
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