The press on both sides of the English Channel have been debating the deal between the British and French governments to close down the Sangatte refugee centre on 30 December.

The French newspaper Liberation welcomes the agreement struck on Monday to close down the controversial centre near Calais.

The Home Secretary has made a tangible concession in return for a symbolic gain The Daily Telegraph

Sangatte, it says, "had become a symbol, and therefore an embarrassment".

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, it adds, has now pledged to "settle the situations of all" the centre's inmates and in so doing "has agreed in this case to what he rules out in all others".

'Very poor deal'

The Daily Telegraph believes the deal is a "very poor" one, adding that the Home Secretary "has made a tangible concession in return for a symbolic gain".

Liberation notes "it will be our neighbours across the Channel who will be doing most of the settling", in a reference to Britain's agreement to take in hundreds of the asylum seekers. "Nicolas owes them a big thank you."

Its front page is dominated by a picture of some of the refugees to benefit from the deal waving goodbye to France from a ferry.

[French Interior Minister Nicolas [Sarkozy] owes them [UK] a big thank you. Liberation

Le Monde explains that the centre, which had become a magnet for illegal immigrants trying to reach Britain, will be closed four months earlier than originally planned.

To secure the deal, Britain agreed to accept 70% of the centre's 1,500 residents.

Britain's The Guardian describes the agreement as "a deal in everyone's best interests".

Many refugees risked their lives

Le Figaro describes the negotiations as "rough" and calls London's decision to grant the work permits to the migrants "an exceptional gesture" given public hostility to refugees.

The Daily Telegraph warns that the centre's closure will "have no impact on the flow of sans-papiers from France to Britain".

It says that although the Sangatte inmates are described as "asylum seekers", there is "no evidence that they intend to claim refugee status".

Five procedures

The paper proposes five procedures to tackle illegal immigration:

Speeding up the whole procedure

Deportation orders must be enforced

Making entry to Britain harder

Britain should opt out of EU asylum treaties

Britain should abrogate the 1951 Geneva Convention

The Guardian adds that "both governments deserve praise" as now "the burden is shared" and a "neutral referee, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) will supervise the closure".

The daily tells anti-immigration leaders to "try spending a few nights at Sangatte, let alone experience the months-long tortuous journeys that its asylum applicants made to get there".

It agrees that "Sangatte needed to close" as it was a "chaotic and disordered centre".

As the centre grew from 200 residents to an untenable 1,500 "it ended mired by evil refugee traffickers, who exploited its hospitality."

There were five murders at the camp, the paper recalls, adding that earlier this year, the numbers seeking passage on freight trains to the UK almost shut down the service.

"This new deal puts control back in government hands," concludes The Guardian.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.