The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholzand the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmerannounced this Wednesday in Berlin that the two governments will begin to work on a bilateral treaty to deepen relations and address priority areas of both governments in foreign policy such as security or irregular immigration.
“Germany and the United Kingdom are bound by a strong friendship and by common values and interests. We are partners in Europe and NATO and in view of the challenges facing both our countries we believe it is time to raise our relations to the next level,” said a joint statement by the two leaders.
In a joint appearance, Scholz said it would be the first such treaty between Germany and the United Kingdom. The Chancellor also referred to Starmer’s announcement that he wanted to improve UK-EU relations and said he was glad of “the outstretched hand.”
“The historic decision to leave the EU was taken by the British and it is not about revoking the Brexit“But we must achieve the best possible relations for the benefit of both parties,” he said.
Starmer, for his part, recalled that Germany is the UK’s second largest trading partner and that by intensifying cooperation, jobs could be created in both countries. The British Prime Minister also said that he hoped the treaty could be ready by the end of this year.
Starmer clarified that the agreement addresses bilateral issues, but that it could also be a start to improving relations with the EU. The issues that the treaty will address will include, among others, foreign policy cooperationindustrial transformation and cooperation in the fight against irregular migration“Together we want to strengthen NATO’s European pillar,” said Scholz.
Regarding the fight against irregular migration, Starmer said that the key will be cooperation to dismantle human trafficking gangsIn this regard, they announced that they will fight against illegal migration and migrant mafias by exchanging intelligence and data.
Investment in countries of origin
Starmer has repeatedly expressed his aim to put an end to migrant mafiasAt the fourth summit of the European Political Community (EPC) in Oxfordshire in July, he pledged to create a new Border Security Command, bringing together officials from the Border Force, police and intelligence agencies, and to use anti-terrorist powers to tackle people-smuggling gangs.
He also stressed the need to work with countries of origin as a “pragmatic” method to curb illegal immigration in Europe. At the same summit, he announced that the United Kingdom would give £84m for projects in Africa and the Middle East over the next three years. The aim is to finance projects in education, employment and humanitarian support, in order to prevent thousands of people from having to leave their countries.
Likewise, as soon as he took office as Prime Minister, he rejected the proposal of his predecessor, the Conservative Rishi Sunak, to taking migrants to Rwanda while their asylum applications to enter the country were being processed, an initiative that he described as an “expensive trick.”
A strategy similar to Starmer’s has been followed by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloniwhich, so far this year, has managed to reduce the arrival of illegal migrants by 62.36% compared to the previous year, according to figures from its own government.
As Starmer suggests, Meloni reached bilateral agreements with countries of origin. Specifically, has invested 5.5 billion euros in projects from countries such as Tunisia, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Mozambique, among others.
Another key to Meloni’s immigration policy has been the externalization of borders. Unlike Starmer, who for the moment rejects this measure, Meloni has promoted agreements with the government of Albania to transfer migrants awaiting processing of their asylum applications to that third country.
This agreement was announced in July and the first migrant center had not been opened until the beginning of this month. The idea is to house 3,000 people a month, according to the BBC. Therefore, there is still no data on its implementation or on the real impact the potential of externalising borders in terms of curbing the arrival of migrants or relieving pressure on centres located in Italy.
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