Eduardo González
The European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, has announced to the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, that a technical delegation from the Commission will travel to Ceuta next week to address the aid requested by Spain in response to the migration crisis.
This was announced on Friday by the Ministry on social media following a telephone conversation between Brunner and Grande-Marlaska, in which the Minister thanked the Commission for its support and the Commissioner announced that a technical delegation will travel to Ceuta next week.
“I had a good phone call with Minister Grande-Marlaska on the evolving situation in Ceuta,” Brunner posted on social media. “He updated me on Spain’s response and the next steps concerning the return of those who remain illegally, as well as efforts to improve security on the ground,” he continued. The Commission has requested that Spain return those who are in an irregular situation. “We also made important progress on the emergency assistance request to provide additional financial and operational support to Spain,” Brunner announced.
In his appearance before the full Congress to explain the migration crisis that Ceuta has been experiencing since July 30, the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Thursday that the Executive will request “the establishment of a permanent Frontex presence at the port and the breakwater” and will “request Europol to create a specific mission precisely to monitor irregular migration in the autonomous city of Ceuta and, ultimately, to ensure that this European border receives the European support it deserves.” Separately, the Ministry of the Interior has requested financial assistance from Brussels to implement fourteen crisis response measures in Ceuta, valued at 32 million euros.
The European spokesperson for Home Affairs and Migration, Markus Lammert, stated this Thursday at a press conference that the Commission is waiting for Spain to clarify its specific needs in this crisis. “We still have some important open questions that must be answered first by the Spanish authorities,” explained the spokesperson, who noted that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) already has a presence in Ceuta and, therefore, Spain must clarify “where else Frontex can provide assistance.”
Meanwhile, the President of the Autonomous City of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, will travel to Brussels next Tuesday, September 8, to discuss the city’s main challenges with Magnus Brunner and the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica. At the European Parliament, Vivas will appear alongside the Chairman of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Javier Zarzalejos, in a press conference focused on the situation in Ceuta.