“Urgent consultation with France and a firm approach to transmigrants are needed”

France is going to tighten border controls at the border with Belgium. This was announced by the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. Fifty percent of the transmigrants found there come from Belgium. Urgent consultation with France and a firm approach to transmigrants are needed,” say MP Theo Francken and Flemish MP Maaike De Vreese.

“Despite our repeated appeals, the Vivaldi government is not doing anything about illegal transit migration. The transmigrants are hardly ever locked up and are therefore de facto left alone on the instructions of Secretary of State Mahdi,” Theo Francken says. “There is a laissez-faire policy in Brussels as well. Brussels is a hub for illegal transmigrants. That makes it very easy for the smugglers.”

French border checks cost Flanders time and money

“France is now going to carry out extra and strict checks at the border. This will cost our Flemish economy a lot of time and money, is an economic loss, and that in the post-coronavirus and post-Brexit period, in which the economic revival and recovery are so crucial,” continues Maaike De Vreese.

Time for a zero-tolerance policy

“Minister of the Interior Verlinden must now immediately organise an urgent consultation with her French colleague to avoid these border checks. This will only succeed when the Vivaldi government, and thus Secretary of State Mahdi, finally demonstrate that they are taking the problem seriously and take extra measures to tackle the problem with a truly zero-tolerance policy,” Theo Francken and Maaike De Vreese conclude.