France pledges chunnel action

Security in France is to be improved

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Repairs to French Channel Tunnel security fences, built to prevent asylum-seekers from using the tunnel to reach the UK, will take six months, officials have said.

The news, which emerged at an emergency meeting chaired by the European Union, has come under fire from UK Euro politicians and the rail operators.

France told European Union officials on Thursday that it would take until November to put in place fencing and policing at the Frethun rail yard, near Calais -- putting back a deadline initially believed to have been set for April.

The work applies to the cargo terminal rather than the contentious Red Cross Sengatte refugee camp near Calais, the temporary home for up to 1,600 Kurdish, Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers.

Freight companies and rail operators say they have already lost £10 million ($14.60 million) through cancellations of more than half its services during the past six months.

About 18,500 refugees were intercepted trying to cross the tunnel in the first half of 2001 alone, the companies say, while more than 1,700 freight trains have been cancelled.

"We need stronger security built and that will take time, cost money and will require personnel," a French official told Reuters news agency, adding refugees had destroyed much of the fencing in place.

Privatised British freight operator English Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS)Planning Director Graham Smith said November was too long to wait.

"If the entire resources of the French government cannot resolve this issue until November you have to question the sense of urgency," he said.

Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden said: "It's disgraceful.

"Even if they keep this promise, it will be a year since those Channel tunnel freight services were first drastically disrupted."

France had previously assured Britain the security would be in place by April, a deadline that later slipped to June, Van Orden, said.

EWS is looking into where to make a legal claim for compensation.

Britain announced a tightening of its immigration laws on Thursday, forbidding rejected asylum seekers from launching an appeal within the country in an effort to stop rising numbers of asylum seekers. (Full story)