The dispute between Paris and London is one of several disputes over border controls and immigration among member governments of the European Union (EU).

The commission’s threat of legal action came during talks between British and French officials over London’s call for the closure of the Sangatte refugee camp in Calais, the French port of entry for the Channel Tunnel, the undersea road-rail link known as the "chunnel." Converted in 1999 from a warehouse used to build the tunnel to a camp to house 600 people, Sangatte contains about two and a half times that number today. Among those living in conditions described by the Guardian newspaper as "cramped [and] squalid" are immigrants from Iraq, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.

One deal reportedly under discussion involves the closure of the camp by Paris in exchange for London’s acceptance of 1,300 refugees.

"Before the center was opened," said Marc Gentilini of the French Red Cross, "migrants, including women and children, were sleeping in the streets." One immigrant worker told reporters of his determination to find a place to live and work. If the center is shut, he said, "I would go to the train station and sleep there, and then try to go to England, because I have no other chance."

Eurotunnel, the French-British company that operates the chunnel, reported that in the first six months of 2001 its officials stopped some 18,500 people--an average of 200 a day--from entering Britain. The company has reinforced the perimeter of its Calais terminal with six miles of razor wire and 300 video cameras, but spokespeople say that without the camp’s closure and stiffer security measures by French authorities, refugees will continue to risk their lives to enter the chunnel in order to get to the United Kingdom.

On Christmas day, 500 immigrants breached the Calais security and stormed the chunnel’s entrance. The French authorities jailed four people from Iraq and Afghanistan on charges of toppling the security barriers.

A spokesperson for English Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS), the chunnel’s main UK user, stated that in the last six months the presence of refugees has forced the company to cancel 3,000 crossings. "It is costing us millions and it has been hurting international rail freight, which is a key part of the [UK] government’s transport strategy," complained Graham Smith, EWS’s planning director. EWS officials say that even with the closure of the camp, round-the-clock security is needed in the Calais railway yards. The company has called on the European Parliament to ensure that both more fencing and cops are deployed on the French side of the tunnel. EWS allegations that the "unimpeded movement of goods" has been disrupted is the basis for the EU’s possible legal action.

The French government, which states that it is unable to cope with the influx of refugees over its borders, has promised to beef up patrols by police and gendarmes starting in September. Meanwhile, it has cut back the number of trains using the tunnel.

French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said that "closing down Sangatte can be--must be--a goal, but cannot come first. The long-term solution can only come from a community policy, a European-wide policy, about asylum."  
 
Blair promotes new attacks
The governments of both France and Germany, however, have been muted in their reaction to a proposal by British prime minister Anthony Blair for an EU policy targeting both illegal immigrants and the countries from which many come. According to the Financial Times, London hopes to impose a plan that "would see aid to developing countries tied to agreements to take back failed asylum seekers and economic migrants, while aid to countries along the EU’s borders could be conditional on helping stem the flow of immigrants."

The Times noted that many EU governments, including France and Germany, have been reluctant to accept a Europe-wide asylum policy in the past because they view immigration as being "an issue that they see as seriously affecting national sovereignty."

Speaking May 20 after gaining the backing of Prime Minister José María Aznar of Spain, Blair stated, "There has got to be some order and some rules brought into the system whereby people come into Europe." The previous week, his government had issued an "action plan" designed to bring about a "radical reduction" in the number of allegedly "unfounded asylum applications." The authors of the "leaked" document advocated the stationing of British immigration officials at Paris and Amsterdam airports and the tightening of visa requirements for citizens of Zimbabwe and other countries. They also proposed the deployment of naval ships to intercept boats with refugees on board, and use of Royal Air Force planes for "bulk" deportations.

The Labour leader claims he advocates measures in order to undercut support for ultrarightist parties in Britain and France that scapegoat immigrants for unemployment and other social problems like crime. In April, Blair’s government introduced a new bill that attacks workers’ rights by targeting immigrants in Britain. The bill would give expanded powers to immigration officers to enter workplaces in pursuit of undocumented workers, restrict the rights of appeal against deportation, and force new citizens to take an oath of allegiance to the British nation and to learn its language, history, and customs.

Speaking in support of these measures in the House of Commons on April 25, Blair turned the situation on its head, blaming working people in Britain for the situation by admonishing them that they could find "no future in the type of narrow-minded racism and nationalism" espoused by ultrarightist Jean-Marie Le Pen in France.  
 
Attacks on Muslims
The kind of policies implemented by Blair and many other European governments--along with attacks on other rights of working people dressed up as measures against "terrorism"--provide the backdrop to a reported increase in violence and verbal abuse directed at members of Muslim communities, and others who "look Muslim."

According to a report published on May 23 by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), the number of incidents has been highest in the Northern European states of Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden. Along with schoolchildren, women wearing head scarves have been the most frequent targets, while Sikh men, who traditionally wear turbans, have also been singled out. The report also listed numerous attacks on mosques.

Referring to government measures enacted since September 11, the EUMC’s director said, "An atmosphere has been created in which Muslims have to justify themselves that they’re not terrorists."

Meanwhile, the Swedish and Danish immigration ministers have publicly fallen out over new Danish legislation that will cut welfare allowances for immigrants, stiffen the criteria for gaining asylum, and abolish an immigrant’s right to be reunited with his or her spouse.

The measures will go into effect on July 1, the day that Denmark takes over the EU presidency from Spain.

After Swedish minister Mona Sahlin criticized the law, her Danish counterpart, Bertel Haarder, accused "certain Swedish ministers of making a hefty contribution to damaging Denmark’s international reputation." Sahlin retorted that Copenhagen’s policy was designed to "demonize refugees" and that any damage to its standing was its own fault.

The Danish prime minister and other Danish politicians weighed in, attacking the Swedish government for "meddling" in another country’s affairs. Pia Kjaersgaard, the leader of the rightist and anti-immigration Danish Peoples party, condemned the Swedish "stab in the back" and called for the closing of the Oresund bridge, which links Denmark with Sweden and the rest of the European continent. The bridge has been open for less than two years.  
 
 
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