U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz plan to sign a treaty focusing on enhanced defense and law enforcement collaboration against gangs involved in migrant smuggling across the English Channel. The agreement follows a significant increase in migrant crossings in small boats, with 37,000 detected in 2024 alone. Last year's decision by Berlin to criminalize the facilitation of migrant smuggling empowers law enforcement with greater investigative tools. Starmer previously outlined this cooperation plan during his visit to Berlin, emphasizing the urgency of addressing this issue.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are set to sign a treaty on Thursday pledging to tighten defense ties and step up law-enforcement cooperation against gangs that smuggle migrants across the English Channel.
In 2024, about 37,000 people were detected crossing the English Channel from France in small boats, and over 20,000 made the crossing in the first six months of 2025.
Berlin agreed last year to make facilitating the smuggling of migrants to the U.K. a criminal offense, enhancing law enforcement's ability to investigate the supply and storage of small boats.
Starmer's visit to Berlin in August 2024 announced plans for a U.K.-Germany friendship and cooperation treaty aimed at curbing the gangs behind cross-channel people smuggling.
#migrant-smuggling #uk-germany-relations #law-enforcement #cross-channel-migration #defense-cooperation
Collection
[
|
...
]