Overview
- French and British interior ministers signed a three-year renewal of the Sandhurst accord on Thursday in Loon-Plage near Dunkirk to target small-boat crossings.
- The UK pledged up to €766 million over three years, with €580 million guaranteed and €186 million held back pending joint evaluations that can redirect spending if targets are missed.
- France will scale coastal policing to about 1,400 officers by 2029, create a dedicated CRS unit, and add drones, helicopters, and electronic surveillance to disrupt launches.
- The plan concentrates extra staff and tech during the summer peak, and the ministers reviewed plans tied to a new administrative detention center under construction near Dunkirk.
- Humanitarian groups including Médecins Sans Frontières and Utopia 56 say the results-linked model and tighter beach policing push people toward riskier mid-sea “taxi-boat” pickups because authorities can only intervene to rescue once boats are afloat.