Emmanuel Macron has reacted angrily to Boris Johnson’s public call for France to take back migrants who reach the UK.
The French President accused the UK prime minister of not being “serious” by making the call on Twitter, after the deaths of 27 people on Wednesday.
And his spokesman accused Mr Johnson of “double talk” for saying something different to Mr Macron privately.
The diplomatic row erupted after France withdrew a summit invitation to Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the European Commission are due to attend Sunday’s talks.
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said France should re-invite Ms Patel.
He told BBC Breakfast: “No nation can tackle this alone. I hope the French will reconsider [uninviting Ms Patel].
“It’s in our interests. It’s in their interests. It’s certainly in the interests of people who are being people trafficked to the UK, with these tragic scenes we’re seeing – people losing their lives.”
The sinking of an inflatable boat on Wednesday marked the biggest loss of life by drowning in the English Channel on record, with 17 men, seven women – one of whom was pregnant – and three children dying.
Mr Macron called the meeting, due to be held in Calais, to discuss how to stop the crossings and tackle people-trafficking gangs.
Ahead of this, in a letter to Mr Macron on Thursday, which was shared on Twitter, Mr Johnson set out five steps which he said could help avoid a repeat of the tragedy:
- Joint patrols to prevent more boats from leaving French beaches
- Deploying more advanced technology, like sensors and radar
- Reciprocal maritime patrols in each other’s territorial waters and airborne surveillance
- Deepening the work of the countries’ joint intelligence cell
- Immediate work on a bilateral returns agreement with France, alongside talks to establish a UK-EU returns agreement
“An agreement with France to take back migrants who cross the Channel through this dangerous route would have an immediate and significant impact,” Mr Johnson said.
And on Friday morning, Mr Macron launched an attack on Mr Johnson and his ministers, saying of the posting of the prime minister’s letter on Twitter: “I am surprised by the methods when they are not serious. “
“We do not communicate from one leader to another on these issues by tweets and letters that we make public. We are not whistleblowers,” he added.
But French sources told the BBC that the head of France’s border police anti-smuggling unit was meeting UK officials on Friday at the British embassy in Paris.
Media reports from Calais say the two survivors of the sinking in the Channel – one Iraqi and the other Somali – have been discharged from hospital and are due to be questioned about how many people were on the boat.
President Macron said France was going to ask for “extra help” from the British, as even though the migrants were told they would be able to stay in France, they wanted to reach the UK.
Since the start of the year, 1,552 smugglers have been arrested in northern France and 44 smuggler networks dismantled, Mr Macron said.
Despite this, he said 47,000 attempted Channel crossings to the UK took place this year and 7,800 people were rescued.
