UK Edition
France says Britain will make 'major' financial contribution under new border treaty
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May will announce a new treaty on how to handle migrants hoping to head to Britain, the French presidency said Wednesday.
The treaty, set to be announced at a summit in London on Thursday, will "complete the Le Touquet accord", Mr Macron's office said in reference to a 2003 deal that effectively put Britain's border in northern France.
The details are "still being finalised", the French presidency said, but the treaty will include measures on how to manage unaccompanied minors, and Britain will make a "major" financial contribution.
The original text, which came into force in February 2004, implemented joint controls at coastal ports in both countries as Britain, which is not part of Europe's Schengen visa-free zone, looked to bolster efforts to keep migrants out.
Later accords led to Britain financing some of the controls and security operations in Calais, just across the English Channel from its own port in Dover.
Calais has long been a sore point in French-British relations, and Mr Macron on Wednesday called for better cooperation in managing the border with Britain ahead of his first trip to London as president.
Meanwhile an advisor to Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that France would "look with kindness" on a decision by Britain to reverse the course of Brexit and remain in the European Union.
Asked about the idea of a second EU referendum in Britain, the adviser said: "If tomorrow, or the day after, the United Kingdom decided to change its mind, it's clear that we would look at this with kindness.
"But it's not up to us to say if the UK wants to change its mind."