An estimated 10,000 migrants and refugees live in a shantytown of huts and temporary housing in Calais, hoping to board boats and trains from there to Britain.
Up to 80 per cent of them are eligible to claim asylum in France.
Now, speaking during a visit to Calais, French president Francois Hollande has said he wants the Calais camp completely dismantled.
"We have to completely dismantle the Calais camp for good. It's an exceptional operation, because we're facing an exceptional situation. We have to go about it methodically and with determination. We will also need a sense of humanity when carrying out these removals."
Mr Hollande has also warned he expects Britain to honour agreements to manage the flow of migrants and refugees coming to Calais in the hope of eventually reaching Britain.
However, the British government has said dismantling the camp is a matter for the French government.
Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart says, even if the camp is taken down, steps must be taken to ensure people do not simply return later.
"I hardly need tell you, Mr President, the migration crisis that Calais has been subjected to has reached its peak. The interior minister told us a little under a month ago that the northern zone of the camp would be dismantled before the end of the year. But our fears remain intact. What decisions will you take to guarantee that what we're going through today won't happen again in a few months?"
France plans to relocate the camp residents in small groups around the country.
But opponents of Mr Hollande accuse him of mismanaging a problem they say is ultimately a British one.
Some local officials in France say they will refuse to take groups of migrants.
But MP Xavier Bertrand, from the opposition Les Republicains party, says he is prepared to work with the government.
"Nobody here in the region wants to see the topic of Calais come up again in the town, or in Dunkirk or anywhere else in the region. But people need to understand that what's being proposed isn't the re-creation of the same tragedy we've lived through for years in Calais elsewhere in France. Let's look at the situation with clarity. And the Calais problem, the migrant problem, is not only a problem for the region, but also for the whole nation. Look clearly at the solutions, and you'll see that we don't want to impose on others the drama we have lived through here. I want to make that clear."
The announcement of the camp closure comes less than a week after work began on a four-metre-high wall to block people from trying to board lorries heading to the Calais port.
