The Diplomat
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, visited yesterday in Warsaw the headquarters of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and held a meeting with his Polish counterpart, as part of his international round of contacts prior to the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Grande-Marlaska met with the new executive director of Frontex, Hans Leijtens, whom he asked to boost the agency’s cooperation with African countries on migration issues. “Spain’s experience shows that the best way to deal with this phenomenon is to work with our partners on prevention in the countries of origin and transit of irregular flows, on the basis of cooperation based on mutual trust and sustained over time,” the minister explained.
In this sense, Grande-Marlaska affirmed that “the notable reduction in the numbers of arrivals in Spain is evidence that this is the right approach”. According to the Ministry, irregular arrivals were reduced by 56.9 percent this year, which is in addition to the 25.6 percent reduction with which 2022 closed. This visit of the Spanish minister is the first high-level visit received by the new executive director of Frontex, who took office last Wednesday.
During the meeting, Grande-Marlaska also urged Frontex to play “a more relevant role” in the prevention of irregular migratory flows in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. “The external borders are not only national but European, and in the face of the challenges we face, the States of first entry must be supported politically and operationally,” he added. The minister also stressed that Spain’s efforts to fight at source against human trafficking and migrant smuggling networks serve “to save lives of vulnerable people whom these networks do not hesitate to put at serious risk.”
Grande-Marlaska also met with the Polish Minister of the Interior and Administration, Mariusz Kaminski, to whom he conveyed his Ministry’s priorities for the Spanish Presidency of the European Union, among which he highlighted the need to make progress in the common European migration and asylum policy. The meeting also allowed both ministers to analyze the evolution of the situation caused by the war in Ukraine.
This is the third meeting that Grande-Marlaska has held as part of his international round to prepare for the Spanish Presidency of the EU. The first meeting was held on February 3 in Rome with the Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, and the second, in Berlin, on February 9, with his German counterpart, Nancy Faeser.
