President of the European Council Charles Michel (2nd L) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (L) arrive to hold a joint press conference after EU Leaders' Summit in Brussels, Belgium on March 25, 2021. Photo: VCG

The European Commission's vice president Margaritis Schinas on Saturday told Britain it has to sort out its own migrant problems post-Brexit. 

"The UK has left the European Union," noted the Greek politician who coordinates a new pact on migration and asylum.

"So the UK should now decide how to organize its border management control," Schinas said. "If I recall well the main slogan of the referendum campaign is 'we take back control.'"

"Since the UK took back control it's up to them now to find the necessary measures to operationalize the control they took back," he added.  

Seventeen men, seven women and three minors died on Wednesday when their inflatable lost air and took on water off Calais, dramatically escalating a crisis that had already seen around 25,700 people cross the busy shipping channel in 2021 in small boats.

After the latest migrant tragedy, the UK and France have launched a war of words. 

French President Emmanuel Macron hit out at British Prime Boris Johnson on Friday over a tweeted letter, accusing him of being "not serious."

Johnson sparked fury in France after writing a private letter to Macron on Thursday evening proposing five ways to stop migrants crossing from France to Britain, then publishing it in full on his Twitter account.

Relations between the two neighbors were already seen as at their most tense in decades following a series of disputes over Brexit, but the personal criticism represents a further turn for the worse.

In response to Johnson's letter, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin canceled planned talks with his British counterpart Priti Patel on Sunday, informing her that she was no longer invited to a meeting with other European ministers.

AFP