The European Commission was not expecting any “major results” on Monday 30 July at the end of the meeting held that day in Geneva between the International Organisation for Migration (IMO), the UN High Commission for Refugees (HCR), the different countries involved in the Mediterranean and the Commission regarding the migrant debarkation platforms project in safe third countries.
According to Natasha Bertaud, the spokesperson for the Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, this was only expected to be an “initial discussion” on the subject before a possibly more consistent inventory is drawn up in “the autumn”. On 24 July, the Commission put forward some possible suggestions regarding these platforms, as well as suggestions regarding the voluntary “control” centres in the EU.
At the end of last week, Spain requested assistance from the EU after having rescued 1,200 people. On 28 July, Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gomez, the Minister for the Interior, called for “a European solution to the immigration problem”. On 27 July, Spain had already rescued 888 people, according to AFP. On 26 July, more than 600 migrants had managed to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa.
On Monday, the Commission said that it was prepared to help Spain and Morocco. The European Commissioner and Spanish Minister for the Interior also spoke on the telephone on Friday evening, added Natasha Bertaud. Madrid has sent a request for emergency additional assistance, which will be examined extremely soon. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)