French president Emmanuel Macron promises to co-operate with UK on small-boat crossings
French president Emmanuel Macron has promised to deliver on measures to cut the number of migrants crossing the English Channel.
Mr Macron, who is due to attend a summit with UK prime minister Keir Starmer tomorrow, said the issue of irregular migration was a 'burden' to both countries.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Gaza aid airdrops won't solve 'deepening starvation'
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said that planned airdrops of aid into Gaza would not solve severe food shortages caused by months of restrictions on the entry of supplies. "Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, calling the wave of hunger affecting Gaza "man made". An Israeli official said yesterday that aid drops in Gaza would resume soon, adding they would be conducted by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory has gravely deteriorated in recent days, with international NGOs warning of soaring malnutrition among children. "Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements + dignified access to people in need," Mr Lazzarini said, referring to the various entry points under Israeli control that regulate access into Gaza. Israel imposed a total blockade on the entry of aid into Gaza on 2 March after talks to extend a ceasefire broke down. It began to allow a trickle of aid to enter again in late May. The UN and NGOs on the ground have decried the severe scarcity facing Gaza's 2.4 million people, with shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel. #Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction & screensmoke. A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 26, 2025 Israel's military said that the country did "not limit the number of trucks going into the Gaza Strip", and that humanitarian organisations and the UN were not collecting the aid once it was inside the territory. Humanitarian organisations accuse the Israeli army of imposing excessive restrictions on the goods allowed into Gaza and on the routes made available to transport the aid to distribution points. The United Arab Emirates, Jordan, France and other countries carried out airdrops in Gaza in 2024, at a time when the transport of aid on land routes also faced restrictions. Many in the humanitarian community consider such drops to be ineffective and dangerous due to the relatively small volumes of deliveries and the risk of aid seekers being killed by landing crates, as has previously happened in Gaza. UK 'taking forward' plan to airdrop food into Gaza Earlier, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told French and German leaders that the UK will be "taking forward" plans to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance in Gaza with partners like Jordan. Mr Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz agreed to work "closely together on a plan" to "pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region", Downing Street said. In a readout of the Prime Minister's call with the French President and German Chancellor, a Number 10 spokesperson said: "The three leaders talked about the situation in Gaza, which they agreed is appalling, and emphasised the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire, for Israel to lift all restrictions on aid and urgently provide those suffering in Gaza with the food they so desperately need. The leaders all agreed it would be "vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace". They discussed their intention to "work closely together on a plan, building on their collaboration to date, which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region." "They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it. Mr Starmer also rejected calls from MPs to immediately recognise a Palestinian state, while Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that recognising the State of Palestine before it is established could be counterproductive. Some 221 MPs have signed a letter urging the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine at a meeting of the UN next week. The UK would follow in the footsteps of France if it did, after Mr Macron announced on Thursday that France would recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. Senior Labour MP Sarah Champion, who co-ordinated the cross-party letter, said recognition "would send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian people". While Mr Starmer said he was "unequivocal" about wanting to see a Palestinian state, he insisted this needed to be part of a "wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis". The UK and its allies must work together to broker a peace, he added, likening the effort to the coalition of the willing to support Ukraine. US President Donald Trump, who is currently visiting Scotland, has said Mr Macron's announcement was "not going to change anything". Ms Meloni meanwhile said that while she was very much in favour of a Palestinian state, she was "not in favour of recognising it prior to establishing it". "If something that doesn't exist is recognised on paper, the problem could appear to be solved when it isn't," Ms Meloni added. France's decision to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September drew condemnation from Israel and the United States, amid the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. Yesterday, Italy's foreign minister said recognition of a Palestinian state must occur simultaneously with recognition of Israel by the new Palestinian entity. A German government spokesperson said that Berlin was not planning to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make "long-overdue progress" towards a two-state solution.
The Journal
7 hours ago
- The Journal
Starmer rejects calls for Palestinian statehood as Trump kicks off UK visit
KEIR STARMER HAS rejected calls from MPs to immediately recognise a Palestinian state, as US President Donald Trump arrived in the UK amid the continued desperate situation in Gaza. Some 221 MPs have signed a letter urging the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine at a meeting of the UN next week. The UK would follow in the footsteps of France if it did, though Trump claimed French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement was 'not going to change anything' ahead of his arrival in the UK yesterday. Sarah Champion, a senior Labour MP who co-ordinated the cross-party letter, said recognition 'would send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian people'. While the PM said he was 'unequivocal' about wanting to see a Palestinian state, he insisted this needed to be part of a 'wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis'. The UK and its allies must work together to broker a peace, he added, likening the effort to the coalition of the willing to support Ukraine. Keir is expected to meet Trump on Monday, as the US president stays in Scotland ahead of a full state visit later this year. On Friday evening, amid mounting global anger over the starving population in Gaza, the Prime Minister also suggested the UK will play a role in dropping aid into Gaza by air. Advertisement He welcomed that Israel said it would allow aid to be delivered by parachute to alleviate starvation in Gaza. The Prime Minister said the step had 'come far too late', but he insisted the UK will 'do everything we can to get aid in via this route'. Britain is already working alongside Jordan to get aid onto planes, the PM signalled, also adding that children from Gaza in need of specialist medical care will be evacuated to the UK for treatment. In a video statement released on Friday, Starmer made plain his desire for a ceasefire. He said: 'I know the British people are sickened by what is happening. The images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying. 'The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.' Meanwhile, in a statement released alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and France's Mr Macron, the Prime Minister urged Israel to stop restricting the flow of aid into Gaza. A call between the three leaders was expected on Friday, but has been postponed until the weekend. US-led peace talks in Qatar were cut short on Thursday, with Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a 'lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire, and aid supplies would be ramped up as negotiations on a lasting truce took place.
RTÉ News
8 hours ago
- RTÉ News
UN gathering eyes solution to deadlocked Palestinian question
Fired by France's imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood, UN members meet next week to breathe life into the push for a two-state solution as Israel, expected to be absent, presses its war in Gaza. Days before the July 28-30 conference on fostering Israeli and Palestinian states living peacefully side-by-side to be co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would formally recognise the State of Palestine in September. His declaration "will breathe new life into a conference that seemed destined to irrelevance," said Richard Gowan, an analyst at International Crisis Group. "Macron's announcement changes the game. Other participants will be scrabbling to decide if they should also declare an intent to recognize Palestine." According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states - including France - now recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988. In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states - one Jewish and the other Arab. The following year, the State of Israel was proclaimed, and for several decades, the vast majority of UN member states have supported the idea of a two-state solution: Israeli and Palestinian, living side-by-side peacefully and securely. But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and senior Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could be geographically impossible. The war in Gaza started following a deadly attack by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a large-scale military response that has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. The New York conference is a response to the crisis, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several dozen ministers from around the world expected to attend. 'No alternative' The meeting comes as a two-state solution is "more threatened than it has ever been (but) even more necessary than before, because we see very clearly that there is no alternative," said a French diplomatic source. Beyond facilitating conditions for recognition of a Palestinian state, the meeting will have three other focuses - reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalization of relations with Israel by Arab states that have not yet done so. The diplomatic source warned that no announcement of new normalization deals was expected next week. Ahead of the conference, which was delayed from June, Britain said it would not recognise a Palestinian state unilaterally and would wait for "a wider plan" for peace in the region. Mr Macron has also not yet persuaded Germany to follow suit and recognise a Palestinian state in the short term. The conference "offers a unique opportunity to transform international law and the international consensus into an achievable plan and to demonstrate resolve to end the occupation and conflict once and for all, for the benefit of all peoples," said the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, calling for "courage" from participants. Israel and the US will not take part in the meeting. Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon "has announced that Israel will not be taking part in this conference, which doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages," according to embassy spokesman Jonathan Harounoff. As international pressure continues to mount on Israel to end nearly two years of war in Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe in the ravaged coastal territory is expected to dominate speeches by representatives of more than 100 countries as they take to the podium from Monday to Wednesday.
