Emmanuel Macron will not scrap UK border controls on French soil, according to the French interior minister, but Britain should pay more towards handling illegal migrants seeking to cross the Channel, reports the Telegraph.
Mr Macron, the newly-elected French President, vowed during his election campaign to renegotiate the Le Touquet agreement which enables British border officials to carry out checks in France.
Signed at a summit between President Chirac and Tony Blair in 2003, it provided for France and Britain to erect juxtaposed border controls in Channel ports. This effectively moved the French frontier to Kent and the UK frontier to Calais.
Along with others, Mr Macron insisted that France can no longer be Britain's "coast guard" to do its dirty work . The deal means that illegal immigrants found in France are barred from Britain before they reach it.
In May, Theresa May appeared to concede that the agreement will have to be looked at again as she vowed to defend the border controls, arguing that they benefit France as much as the UK.
On Wednesday, Gérard Collomb, Mr Macron's interior minister, appeared to rule out scrapping UK border controls on French soil.
"To return the border to England would be complex," he told Le Figaro. "It would block the functioning of the tunnel."
"However, we will have to find more favourable conditions regarding responsibility for a certain number of costs in France," he added.