Germany will specifically outlaw the smuggling of migrants to Britain as part of a new cooperation deal between the two countries as part of a major crackdown into the crisis.
Until now, people-smuggling to a non-EU country from Germany hadn’t been illegal – but after some “nifty” negotiations, Europe’s largest economy has finally cracked down on the crisis.
Under the deal, German authorities will be given greater powers to intercept and break up the small boat supply chain – with the country’s interior minister Nancy Faeser declaring the time had come to “counter this unscrupulous business” even further.
She said: “Many of these crimes are planned in Germany. Together, we are now countering this unscrupulous business with even more resolve.
“This includes maintaining a high investigative pressure, exchanging information between our security authorities as best as possible, and persistently investigating financial flows to identify the criminals operating behind the scenes.”
While her counterpart Yvette Cooper laid into how “for too long, organised criminal gangs have been exploiting vulnerable people, undermining border security in the UK and across Europe while putting thousands of lives at risk. We are clear that this cannot go on”.
The deal comes at a crucial time for both countries’ migration systems – with both Britain and Germany suspending decisions on asylum claims from Syria in the wake of Bashar Al-Assad’s ousting, and the total number of migrants to have crossed the English Channel approaching 34,000 this year alone.
This is the second strengthening in ties with Europe in as many days after Rachel Reeves addressed EU finance ministers yesterday, the first such speech by a British Chancellor since 2020.
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Starmer embarks on SEVENTEENTH overseas trip since General Election
Starmer met with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in the first such meeting for 53 years this morning
PA
Sir Keir Starmer has reached 17 overseas trips in just five months as Prime Minister as he visited Cyprus today.
On his way back from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Starmer met with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in the first such meeting for 53 years.
The PM said: “Please take it as a statement of my intent that our already strong relationship, the partnership between our countries – strong historically, strong because of the ties that we’ve had people-to-people for many, many years and common interests – can be taken to an even stronger level between us.”
Starmer will visit the two British RAF bases on Cyprus, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, before returning to the UK.
His next trip is slated to fall on February 3, when he visits Belgium for an EU security summit.
Cooper’s ‘nifty’ Germany deal one of Labour’s ‘smartest moves’, think tank chief says
Britain and Germany’s deal to make the latter outlaw smuggling migrants to the UK is one of Labour’s “smartest moves”, Alan Mendoza, the executive director of the Henry Jackson Society security think tank has said.
Reacting to this morning’s news, Mendoza said: “One of our UK Government’s smartest moves has been to create a new culture of bilateral partnerships with Germany.
“Yvette Cooper’s deal on migration smuggling is particularly noteworthy as we appear to have convinced Germany to change its own laws to make this illegal.
“That’s a particularly nifty piece of negotiation from the Home Secretary.”
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