Macron’s minister slams own government over migrant crisis | World | News

Emmanuel Macron’s Government has been slammed by a minister who said “we have not done enough” on the migrant crisis in the midst of the latest tragedy in the Channel. 

Guillaume Kasbarian, the resigning Minister Delegate for Housing, has spoken out about his own government after at least eight migrants died attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat over the weekend.

Mr Kasbarian – who is a member of the Renaissance party of which Mr Macron is the honorary president – was a guest on franceinfo on Sunday, September 15, and said his Government had failed to fully tackle smugglers and trafficking.

He said: “We can always do more.

“I don’t think we’ve achieved all our objectives on migration issues. We have done as much as we can in the time available to us, but obviously there is always room for improvement.”

Mr Kasbarian went on to say that “with humility” they must recognise that “we have not done enough”.

‌He added: “These are terrible tragedies that raise questions of humanity, but also questions about our migration policy and the fight against trafficking and smugglers.”

The outgoing minister said that he did not want to set out what the migration policy of new French Prime Minister Michel Barnier may be.

This came as emergency services received a distress signal from a dinghy that got into difficulty off the coast at Ambleteuse, near Calais, in the early hours of Sunday.

Jacques Billant, the Pas de Calais prefect, said that “several migrants lost their lives”.

“A zodiac craft carrying around 50 people ran aground,” the prefect explained, with eight unidentified migrants declared dead at the scene.

The latest fatalities come as French maritime authorities rescued around 200 people off the coast of Calais in the space of 24 hours between Friday and Saturday night and brought them back to land.

Among those rescued were 55 migrants in a boat described as being in poor condition, which was located off the coast of Le Portel.

The rescue operations also saw 61 migrants being picked up off the coast of La Becque d’Hardelot, and 48 people recovered close to a lighthouse, French authorities said. 36 people were also rescued at the end of the day, according to officials.

Authorities said they monitored 18 attempts to launch boats across the arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating southern England from northern France on Saturday.