PARIS: Britain has paid France 540 million euros ($635 million) since 2023 in fees to combat small boats carrying undocumented migrants across the Channel, a senior French official said Thursday.
France has spent about 331 million euros in the same period on the campaign, according to figures provided by Laurent Touvet, head of the interior ministry’s DGEF agency, which handles migration policy.
“It is estimated that the United Kingdom’s contribution to the fight against illegal immigration is around 62 percent of the total” with the remaining 38 percent covered by France, Touvet told a parliamentary commission.
For 2023-2026, “this represents 540 million euros funded by the United Kingdom,” mainly for “personnel costs, but also for investment on French territory,” he added.
It was “plausible” to estimate that about 85 percent of the total sum had been spent on security missions and the rest on social, health and humanitarian costs, including rescues at sea, said Touvet.
