French president meets migrants in Calais and says he'll not allow camps such as the jungle to develop again

French president Emmanuel Macron meets African migrant in Calais
French president Emmanuel Macron meets African migrant in Calais
By Euronews
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Emmanuel Macron due to meet British counterpart on Thursday to discuss migrants in Calais eager to cross into Britain.

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French president Emmanuel Macron has met with migrants in the port of Calais and used his visit to announce that he won't allow another makeshift migrant camp to develop.

The former camp nicknamed “the jungle” became key to France's migration debate before it was dismantled in 2016.

Around 400, some of them refugees, remains homeless and eke out an existence in and around Calais whilst waiting for an opportunity to board a truck entering the Channel Tunnel.

When the notorious jungle camp was in existence there were 7,000 migrants in the Calais area.

"Calais is not a hidden back door to England. And I want to be very clear : this will keep on being the case. In no way will we let illegal networks develop there, in no way we will let the jungle grow again,” Macron said.

Migrants regularly die whilst attempting to make it to Britain on the trucks and a few of them are unaccompanied children.

Macron will ask Britain to accept more of the children when he visits London on Thursday - and provide more money to deal with undocumented migrants.

He's also indicated that he wants to revise the Le Touquet agreement which moved British border officials to Calais and the French border officials to the port of Dover.

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