Saturday 27 October 2018

CHRIS PHILP MP AND THE INVISIBLE BORDER SOLUTION

If I ever get into a discussion about Brexit with a leave voter, which is not that often I must admit, the sheer ignorance about all things EU is astonishing but not altogether surprising given the level of misinformation pumped out daily from the mainstream media. I don't claim any special knowledge or expertise but I know where to find factual information and it isn't on the TV or the newspapers, all of whom are struggling as much as anybody to understand Brexit. Some try harder than others and some newspapers pursue their proprietors agenda anyway and never worry about the truth or facts or research.

Among the worst offenders are MPs. Even those that appear regularly on our screens or sit on Select Committees.

So it is with Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South. He isn't on any Select Committees but he's a born again Brexiteer, having voted remain in 2016. He recently tweeted a picture of a border crossing between France and Switzerland:
An article on the online news website Inside Croydon (HERE) explains why he's totally wrong and quoted several knowledgeable Twitter users:

“Airport Street or Route Douanière de l’aéroport de Bâle which translates as Basel Airport Customs Road leads from Switzerland onto French territory to get to the airport and you can’t get into France that way and the customs post is a kilometre down the road,” one helpful Twitterer explained to Philp"

"Many pictures of border customs infrastructure were posted, as well as the near-three-mile queue of lorries which is a regular feature at one German-Swiss border crossing".

 I know this airport well since I used to work for a French company based in Mulhouse.The airport is known as Basel - Mulhouse - Freiburg airport since it serves France, Switzerland and Germany. The airport is physically located in France and the road Chris Philp describes connects it to Switzerland and is fenced off to prevent people entering France prior to the airport. You apparently have to pass through a customs post before the airport or in the airport itself.

A similar arrangement, which I am even more familiar with, exists at Geneva airport albeit the opposite way round. The airport is on Swiss territory but a road (fenced) leads from France into the airport terminal. I have used this road many times. You can hire cars on the French side of the terminal and drive straight into France without ever touching Swiss soil.  But inside the airport there is a border check where you have to show a passport before being allowed into the main Swiss section of the terminal and the same in reverse.

Crossing from France to Switzerland involves passing through a border post where they frequently check your passport. Below is a picture of the actual crossing at Ferney-Voltaire immediately outside Geneva airport.

This is what an EU customs border with Switzerland actually looks like rather than the one Chris Philp is dreaming about, hoping it will solve the Irish border issue.

Notice it is anything but invisible.

If there really were "technical solutions" to solve the problem the French and Swiss would have found and implemented them long before now. I have some experience of France and French companies and I don't recall them ever being backwards at using technical solutions. In fact one might say this is one of the problems with France, they are far too fond of complicated technical solutions rather than simple tried and tested ones, as anyone familiar with French plumbing for example, will know.

I am absolutely confident if a solution existed to prevent queues and delays at border crossings, France would be the first to use it.

So I am afraid it's the solution that's invisible, not the crossing.
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