Frontex had “no indication” of a migration surge in Ceuta

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares declared this Wednesday from Brussels that he has “no knowledge” of “any information whatsoever indicating the magnitude of the migration surge” on July 30 in Ceuta, and that both the European Commission and Frontex technical officials have assured him they had “no indication” that anything like this was going to happen. “As Spain’s Foreign Minister, within my remit and based on what I witnessed on the 30th, I have no knowledge of any information whatsoever indicating the magnitude of the surge,” Albares told the press at the end of his two-day working visit to Brussels to discuss “the best fit” for Ceuta and Melilla within the European Union. Furthermore, he continued, both the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, whom he met with on Tuesday, and “some people working at Frontex on technical missions,” whom he met with on Wednesday, told him that they “had no indication whatsoever” that a mass arrival of migrants to the Autonomous City was going to occur. “As you know, one of Frontex’s missions is the surveillance and monitoring of the European Union’s external borders; they have significant resources, including satellites,” he noted. “I asked them if, based on their satellite resources and their continuous observation and monitoring of the external borders, they had any information from the preceding days that anything unusual, anything different, or anything that might have led them to anticipate that on July 30th there would be this influx of people, and both Commissioner Brunner and the people who work more technically and operationally (…) told me absolutely not, that they saw nothing,” he added. Customs Union, Frontex Presence, and Southern Border During his two days in Brussels, Albares explained to his counterparts that “the land borders of southern Europe are just as important as the land borders of eastern Europe.” “That is one of the key messages I conveyed to Commissioner Brunner, who is in charge of home affairs,” he continued. “With him, I also reviewed the need to strengthen the presence of all European agencies related to external borders—Frontex, the European Asylum Agency, Europol—and even to explore a permanent Frontex presence in Ceuta and Melilla,” he added. Albares conveyed to the European Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič, whom he met with on Wednesday, “the Spanish government’s desire that both Ceuta and Melilla, following the necessary internal dialogue, formally join the Customs Union, taking into account their specific characteristics, and that the geographical specificity of Ceuta and Melilla be considered, just as the geographical specificity of other parts of the European Union and the territorial integrity of the European Union are considered from a commercial, economic, and financial perspective.” Furthermore, in his meeting with representatives of the Committee of the Regions, Albares announced his intention to “request a permanent post within the Spanish delegation for Ceuta and Melilla.” Albares also held “a long conversation” this Wednesday with the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, whom he asked to “understand the specific nature of the Ceuta and Melilla border, which separates Spain and Morocco, but also Europe from Africa, and which is the most unequal border on the planet, both in terms of the median age on either side—19 years on the African side, 44 on the European side—and income—2,000 euros on one side of the border, 66,000 euros on the other.” Separately, in his meeting with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, the minister warned that “the security of the European Union’s southern land border is just as important as the security of its eastern border or any other border of the European Union, whether to the north or the west, and that, therefore, whoever carries the voice of Europe in the world must also bear in mind not only that both borders are equally important, but also that there is a border with Africa there, and that Europe’s voice must also be present through the High Representative.” On another note, Albares stated that, “as soon as” he learned through the press that the President of the Autonomous City of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, was going to travel to Brussels coinciding with his own trip, his office contacted his to arrange a meeting, but, “unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, it was not possible.” “We have agreed to speak by telephone tomorrow (Thursday) so that I can convey all these aspects to him, as well as to the president of Melilla,” he said.

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