Much has been said and written recently about the reason for the massive queues of cars, mainly carrying British holidaymakers, heading to Europe via Dover for their summer holidays. Typical useless border force. French intransigence. Everything until Brexit. The blame game is in overdrive.
The thing is, though, that even though the UK was in the EU’s single market, it was never part of the borderless Schengen area. So we have always had passport controls between the UK and France, regardless of EU membership.
I was instrumental in implementing juxtaposed controls between the UK and France some 20 years ago. This was a ground-breaking decision, which has since been recognized as best practice in global border management.
It is best to carry out passport controls (and customs controls if possible) before disembarkation, rather than at the port of entry. This innovative agreement between the UK and France allows ferries to flow freely across the Channel, so vehicles can literally ‘get off’ the ferry and onto the motorways on either side without further delay.
These agreements also provide important secondary benefits by ensuring that passengers who are not properly documented or ineligible for admission are denied boarding and are not subjected to the inconvenience of being turned away at the ‘arrival and sent back to the same ferry.
None of this has anything to do with Brexit. It was founded on the principle that the UK and France have the right under international law to agree joint bilateral treaties to facilitate trade and transit across their common border, while co-operating between them to combat irregular immigration, human trafficking and international organizations. crime
For most of the time, this model has worked well. However, it depends on good operational management so that (a) there is adequate infrastructure on both sides to enable border agencies to carry out their controls; and (b) that border agencies can ensure that their agents are in place in adequate numbers to handle the expected volume during peak periods.
The port of Dover has recently increased the number of cabins available for French border police, but reports suggest that the main reason for the recent delays in Dover was the inability to deploy French police officers to Dover in sufficient numbers at the time appropriate.
EU member states have adopted different processes to manage arrivals from the UK after Brexit. British citizens are now ‘third country nationals’ and as such are subject to the full rigor of the Schengen Borders Code. This means that officers can ask questions about place of residence, purpose and length of stay, address, travel plans, etc., as well as passport stamps. This is in addition to the standard passport check against electronic watchlists, which was always in place.
However, to what extent they choose to do so is a matter for them. Anecdotal evidence from travelers entering France suggests that occasional questions may be asked while the passport is being scanned and that a stamp is now being applied. But this process does not add much to the transaction times that applied before Brexit. In addition, like us, EU border agencies have the authority to reduce certain controls following significant operational pressure on control, if they choose to do so. So the argument that these delays would never have happened if the UK had remained in the EU does not stand up to scrutiny.
However, that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods just yet. There is a much bigger challenge around the corner, which is linked to Brexit.
The EU intends to introduce an “entry/exit” system (EES), which will require all “third-country nationals” to submit biometric data (including fingerprint scans) for routine screening when crossing the EU’s external border. blog
It will also incorporate the Electronic Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), a US “ESTA” style system, which will require passengers to obtain an electronic authorization to enter before travel.
In return, the UK will introduce an “electronic travel authority” (ETA) for all visitors (including EU citizens) entering the UK, which will also require biometric enrolment.
This raises very important political and operational questions for border agencies operating on both sides of the Channel, which could overshadow the problems we’ve seen in recent days and bring this route closer to a standstill. There are technical solutions that would allow us to overcome this but, as with migrant boats, they will require close collaboration between the UK and France if we are to implement them effectively. Something that should be at the top of the new Prime Minister’s political agenda, in my opinion.
Tony Smith CBE is a former Director General of the UK Border Force and author of ‘Changing Borders – A Kingdom Unlocked’