Brussels asks Spain to resolve “soon” the situation of unaccompanied minors arriving in the Canary Islands

Eduardo González The European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, has asked the Spanish Government this Monday to “soon find” a solution to the problem of unaccompanied migrant minors who emigrate to the Canary Islands for “the interest of everyone, especially of these children”. “We are aware of the conversations between the Government of the Canary Islands and the central Government to find a solution on unaccompanied minors”, declared Brunner during his speech at an informative breakfast of the New Economy Forum in Madrid. “It is important to reinforce components such as, for example, the reception and management of unaccompanied minors”, continued the commissioner, who met this Monday with the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Minister of Migration, Elma Saiz, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares. On 28 January, the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, during his speech at the summit of Parliaments of the South of the European Union, demanded a response from Brussels to the more than 5,800 unaccompanied migrant minors that the Canary Islands currently host and asked that the development and application of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum grant specific treatment to these children, something that does not currently occur. Likewise, the Commissioner advocated the implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum so that Spain can receive the financial support it needs to “fight” against irregular migration. The Pact, he assured, “provides very positive elements and contains innovative solutions” to face the different challenges related to migration, but “leaves out relevant issues” that are of particular interest to some countries, such as the regulation of returns. The Commission “will address these pending issues” and, in mid-March, new regulations will be presented so that “the next European Council can work on it,” he assured. Brunner admitted that each State has a different situation regarding the arrival of migrants and asylum seekers. “Countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece are very affected by the arrivals” and their reality “is not the same as that of Germany or Austria,” he explained. Therefore, “a balance must be found between solidarity and responsibility,” but the Pact must “be applied,” warned the commissioner. In any case, Brunner rejected the possibility of applying the agreement “at two speeds” because “all States have to “work at the same speed”. “Of course there are countries that are more and less happy”, but “everyone agrees that, at least, it is a basis and we have something concrete”. In any case, he recalled, “everyone had the opportunity to analyse it, make contributions” and supported it at the time. On the other hand, Magnus Brunner warned of the need to “adequately address” “legal migration”, because “we desperately need legal migrants for our labour markets”. “I know it is difficult to do so, but let us differentiate between legal migration, which is something we need, and irregular migration, which is something we have to fight against”, he continued. With regard to irregular migration, a “very difficult and very important” issue in Spain, the commissioner assured that the European Union can help reduce migratory flows to Spain “by strengthening cooperation with third countries such as Mauritania, Senegal and Morocco and with initiatives against human trafficking”, and counting on “the collaboration” of other countries, such as Egypt and Turkey, which are also “very important” in containing irregular immigration from other parts of the world.

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