Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez immediately canceled his visit and went to the exclave of Ceuta, where a record number of illegal migrants from neighboring Morocco arrived.
This is reported by El Pais.
The Prime minister said that he considers the situation very seriously, and called on Morocco to solve the crisis in a spirit of good neighborliness. “The territorial integrity of the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, which are also part of the EU, will be protected under all circumstances and in all necessary ways,” Pedro Sanchez said.
Recall that more than 5,000 illegal migrants, including about a thousand minors, Monday illegally entered Morocco to the territory of the Spanish exclave of Ceuta on the northern coast of Africa. Now the Spanish media write about 6,000 people, some of whom arrived on the morning of May 18.
The route through the Spanish exclave cities of Ceuta and Melilla is one of the main ways of migration of Africans to Western Europe. It is reported that Morocco is now not actually taking measures to prevent migrants from entering the Spanish Ceuta. Madrid and Rabat previously agreed that illegal immigrants who get Ceuta by sea should be sent to Morocco.
The Spanish Prime Minister is already holding consultations with Brussels, insisting that this is not only about the security of Spain’s borders, but also of the entire European Union.
A number of European officials have already expressed support for Spain in connection with the crisis.
“Europe expresses solidarity with Ceuta and Spain. We need joint European solutions to solve the migration issue, ” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, stressed that ” the Spanish border of Ceuta is the European border.”
The same statement was made by the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ivla Johansson.
“The EU wants to develop relations with Morocco on the basis of trust and joint commitments. And the migration issue is key here… The most important thing now is that Morocco continues to prevent illegal shipments and that those who do not have the right to be (in the EU) are properly returned,” she stressed.
The European External Border Protection Agency Frontex said it was ready to help Spain control the border zones of Ceuta and Melilla.
