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The Home Secretary of the United Kingdom and the Interior Minister of France came back into the scene yesterday, 30 August 2016, with a statement that speaks extensively of Calais, but that expecially tries to reassure (themselves) after the British vote for Brexit (see here, here and here in French).

The Franco-British duo has been in the heart of European security and anti-migration policies. And the two countries will continue to be the engine of those policies even when the United Kingdom will be out of the European Union.

Two pictures of this permanence, one in the security sphere, terrorism, the other on migration, Calais, both being associated with no shades.

Verbs chosen to describe the actions listed in these two parts show immobility, for what concerns terrorism “continue”, “will deepen”, “support”, “continue”, “will prioritise”,  and three times “call”. About Calais, “continue”, “continue”, “continue”, with “address” followed by an evocation of what has already been done, “bring”, but is a lie reported to the situation of minors who can legally enter the UK, because the two governments continue to block their cases. And above all, to limit it to the application of European regulation Dublin III on asylum means that both governments agree not to apply the Dubs amendment (see here, here and here) which foresees a wider possibilities of welcoming for the unaccompanied minors.

The conclusion begins with crocodile tears ( “the humanitarian situation in Calais that affects both countries”) before saying that the two governments will maintain and worsen the situation ( “continue their close cooperation”, “efforts to protect the shared border”, “continue to manage the common border”): the policy that caused thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean and dozens at the British border will continue to add dead over dead.


https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-by-the-governments-of-france-and-the-united-kingdom

 

Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Das_Eismeer_-_Hamburger_Kunsthalle_-_02Caspar David Friedrich : The Sea of Ice.