Italy and Spain slam France over proposed migration pact with UK

Raunaq Mohammad

14th June 2025

Written by Raunaq Mohammad

Italy, Spain and three other southern EU countries have criticised a proposed Franco-British migration deal, arguing that it could leave them having to take back people returned from the UK to the continent.

The five nations, which also include Greece, Malta and Cyprus, have sent a letter to the European Commission objecting to France negotiating an arrangement to swap asylum seekers with Britain in a bid to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in boats.

The precise terms of the Franco-British deal remain unclear but the principle would be to return irregular migrants to France whole Britain accepted asylum seekers seeking resettlement. Such swaps were first attempted in the EU’s migration deal with Turkey to stem boat crossing to Greece.

A British official admitted that “the final hurdles are taking longer than expected” as some EU countries “are more onboard with others”.

The UK has instead pushed for bilateral agreements with European capitals on the most sensitive issue of “small boats”. In the year to March, 38000 people crossed the Channel in small vessels according to the government.

The proposed asylum seeker swap between France and the UK mirrors a 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey in which the bloc agreed to take a Syrian refugee from refugee camps in Turkey in return for every Syrian returned by Greece, who had crossed the border irregularly.

The European Commission stated that the increase in people smuggling across the Channel was “alarming” and merited a “robust response to deter dangerous journeys”

This begs the question, “Is the Franco-British deal the solution to all these problems?”.