Posted on 10/24/2025 4:39:08 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
France is backing away from a recent commitment to intervene more forcefully at sea to stop small boats from crossing the English Channel, according to multiple sources contacted by the BBC.
There is evidence that France's current political turmoil is partly to blame, but it will come as a blow to the UK government's attempts to tackle the issue.
In the meantime, dangerously overcrowded inflatable boats continue to leave the coast on an almost daily basis, from a shallow tidal canal near the port of Dunkirk.
While the man in charge of border security in the UK, Martin Hewitt, has already expressed "frustration" at French delays, the BBC has now heard from a number of sources in France that promises of a new "maritime doctrine" - which would see patrol boats attempt to intercept inflatable boats and pull them back to shore – are hollow.
"It's just a political stunt. It's much blah-blah," said one figure closely linked to French maritime security.
The maritime prefecture for the Channel told the BBC that the new doctrine on taxi-boats was "still being studied".
Former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was widely credited, not least in the UK, with driving a more aggressive approach in the Channel.
That culminated last July with a summit between President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The focus then was on plans to intercept the so-called "taxi boats" now used by the smugglers to cruise close to the coastline, collecting passengers already standing in the water.
French police rarely intervene against the overcrowded taxi-boats since it's considered too great a risk to both officers and civilians.
But days before the summit, we witnessed French police wading into the sea, south of Boulogne, to slash the sides of a taxi-boat as it got caught in the waves...
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Tell Trump that they are drug boats on their way to the US... 😉😂😂
Those cops at the end of the excerpt have finally discovered an effective way to stop the “taxi boats.” They just need thousands more officers like them.
They want it to happen. Duh.
“taxi-boats”. I’m waiting for the Rhine River barges.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.