Spanish Minister of Home Affairs Fernando Grande-Marlaska briefed his European counterparts in a video conference on Tuesday about the mass crossing attempt at Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the African continent.
According to the minister, more than 70,000 people attempted to enter Ceuta irregularly at the end of last week. While nearly all were returned to Morocco within two days, between 75 and 80 people lost their lives during the ordeal. None of those who crossed into Ceuta managed to make it to mainland Europe.
After the meeting, Luxembourg’s Minister for Home Affairs, Léon Gloden, held an impromptu press conference in which he praised Spain for its “swift and efficient” response to the crisis.
He also addressed the demand by 22 EU member states, made over the weekend, to suspend Spain temporarily from the Schengen Area. Luxembourg, Gloden noted, had made the right decision by refusing to sign the letter calling for Spain’s suspension.
Echoing the stance of Prime Minister Luc Frieden, Gloden told his EU counterparts he would “not accept that Schengen is taken hostage every time there is a migration issue.” In his view, Schengen “is not the problem, but the solution.”
He also argued that with the new EU Migration Pact and the Return Directive, the European Union now has the necessary tools “to work together” on migration issues.
Some people who reached Ceuta remained there only because they were receiving medical treatment; once recovered, they would be sent back to Morocco under the accelerated border procedure.
Gloden also expressed regret that some countries, including Italy, are now seeking to reinstate controls at their internal EU borders.
He reminded reporters that he has long criticised the ongoing German border checks with Luxembourg, and underlined that Ceuta is not part of the Schengen Area – an important detail, he argued, that undermines the calls for Spain’s exclusion from Schengen.
Whilst the Ceuta incident will be subject to deeper analysis, several lessons are already clear. Beyond curbing disinformation, the EU’s border agency, Frontex, must be strengthened, and cooperation with third countries needs to be improved to manage migration effectively.
Asked about the Spanish government’s decision to regularise certain migrants, Gloden insisted that Luxembourg “does not carry out a general regularisation” of people arriving without residence permits. He also highlighted that irregular migration to Europe has fallen by 55% over the past two years and is already down by a further 37% so far this year.
