EU deal allowing Channel migrants to be sent back to France ‘not on the table’

An EU deal with the UK allowing Channel migrants to be sent back to France is “not on the table” during Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Brussels this week.

British hopes of the bloc-wide agreement were raised after France and Germany wrote to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, requesting her to kick-start negotiations.

But diplomatic sources have warned that any future deal would only be acceptable if Britain were to take in more refugees from Europe and make it easier for migrants in France to be able to join any family members they have in the UK.

Sir Keir is due to meet with Ms Von der Leyen in Brussels on Wednesday.

After Pedro Serrano, the EU ambassador to the UK, told Times Radio it “may be more profitable” for EU countries to negotiate migration agreements with Britain as a bloc rather than rely on bilateral deals, sources said an EU-UK migration deal was “not on the table”.

Mr Serrano, who stopped short of calling for a formal deal, was not signifying a shift in the Commission’s position, they said.

The Government wants to negotiate a post-Brexit security pact, migration deal and better trade ties with the EU. It has rejected a call from Brussels for new youth mobility arrangements.

But EU officials and diplomats from other member states poured cold water on UK hopes of an early result in Sir Keir’s “reset” in relations with Europe, despite Brussels coming under pressure from its two most influential capitals.

Were Britain to agree to EU demands on youth mobility, which would make it easier for young people to study and live in the UK and EU, the move would not unlock a migration deal, which requires the unanimous support of all 27 member states.

One EU diplomat told The Telegraph: “What’s in a deal with the UK for us? If all it means is that the UK sends people back to the EU, it only exacerbates the problem on our end.”

Professor Anand Menon, the director of the UK in Changing Europe, said: “We’re not going to get to return people without taking some.”

Dr Fabian Zuleeg, the CEO of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre, said there was an “expectation” that “the UK gets involved constructively in the management of migration and refugee flows.”

He said: “If there is no real commitment from the UK, this will not only limit cooperation on this issue but across the board.”

Brussels rejected British calls for a UK-EU migration deal, which would allow the return of Channel migrants to France, during the Brexit negotiations from 2017 to 2021.

It told the UK it would have to negotiate bilateral migrant return deals with individual EU countries such as France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands instead.

The Commission has rebuffed calls for such a deal ever since but is now under pressure from the EU’s two most influential members following the recent letters from France and Germany on the issue.

France’s new Right-wing government has vowed to curb migrant numbers and “absolutely” believes the lack of a migration deal with the UK after Brexit is a pull factor for illegal immigrants travelling to French soil from countries such as Italy and Greece.

A French source said Bruno Retailleau, the new interior minister, aimed to get Rome on board with the push for a UK-EU deal at a meeting of G7 interior ministers in Italy, which Britain will also attend.

A European diplomat admitted the “sands are shifting” on migration since the terrorist attack in the Western German city of Solingen earlier this year, which led to a crackdown on illegal immigration in Germany.

“The Germans have really significantly moved on the issue, the Dutch, the Scandinavians, the Austrians, the Belgians, the French, the Italians were already on this course of we need to figure out new and innovative ways to deal with migration,” the diplomat said.

Any deal with the UK would have to be sold domestically as preventing illegal migration, which will be a major subject of discussion among EU leaders at their October European Council summit.

“I can see a scenario in which, post Starmer visit, the UK becomes somewhat part of the conversation. The question is how do you make it interesting for all 27 member states?” the diplomat said.

“The bottom line remains, what’s in it for us?”