Sarkozy demands UK take Calais migrants

Britain should open an asylum centre on its own territory to deal with asylum-seekers now camped in the French port of Calais, the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy says.

Migrants and refugees attempting to cross the English Channel have over the years gathered in camps known as the "jungle" in Calais.

In the past two years, the population of the camps has ballooned, with war and economic upheaval in North Africa and the Middle East driving thousands of migrants to try to reach Britain illegally through the Channel Tunnel.

"I'm demanding the opening of a centre in Britain to deal with asylum seekers in Britain, so that Britain can do the work that concerns them," Mr Sarkozy told a political rally in Touquet in northern France.

Mr Sarkozy, who is attempting a political comeback at next year's election, says Britain should manage the asylum process, accepting those it wants on British territory and organising charters to remove those it rejects.

"The jungle should not be in Calais or anywhere else, because this is a republic and those with no rights to be here should return to their country," he said.

In 2003, France signed a symbolic border treaty with Britain in Touquet. Under Le Touquet accord, British officials can check passports in France and vice versa.

However, that has led to would-be immigrants to Britain congregating at Calais. Images of hundreds of people trying to leap onto trucks bound for Britain have roused anti-immigration worries on both sides of the English Channel.

Images of hundreds of people trying to leap onto trucks bound for Britain have roused anti-immigration worries on both sides of the English Channel.

It was a key issue in Britain's vote to leave the European Union, and has become a hot-button issue for France's presidential election next year.

The next French presidential election is scheduled for April 2017. The incumbent, François Hollande, is eligible to run for a second term.

-Reuters