The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, visited the Canary Islands (Spain) on Friday 6 November to discuss with local officials and the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez, the recent increase in irregular arrivals of migrants from North Africa, particularly from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa.
The Commissioner offered the institution’s assistance in dealing with these arrivals, who have mainly arrived in the “last few weeks”, and she was due to visit reception centres during the day.
Since the beginning of the year, “12,000 people” have arrived irregularly in these Spanish islands, “which is a lot”, she said, adding that most of these people are not eligible for protection and must be returned to their countries.
The Commissioner also recalled the stakes of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’ presented on 23 September, which should help Member States manage migration and show EU solidarity with countries under pressure.
Stressing the importance of partnerships with non-Member States and cooperation actions such as those co-financed by the Commission, for example, in Gambia with Spanish and German police forces, Mrs Johansson denounced the activities of smuggling networks which operate “on a quasi-industrial scale” and leave people to die at sea.
As illegal immigration is the responsibility of all Member States, the Commission is ready to study any support measures needed by the Canary Islands community, the Commissioner added.
The ‘Pact’ on the Ministers’ agenda
The subject of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’ will be discussed by the Ministers of the Interior on 13 November during their informal meeting via videoconference. The German EU Council Presidency’s idea is to make progress on common elements of understanding in the Pact and on fundamental principles such as the external dimension, phases of entry into the EU territory with prior checks, ways of improving returns, and legal migration and integration, according to a diplomatic source, with Berlin hoping for a political agreement on these major principles on 4 December at the ‘Home Affairs’ Council.
The national ambassadors to the EU, meeting in Coreper, discussed it on 6 November (see EUROPE 12594/7). The discussion touched on all of the key topics - the external dimension, returns, and solidarity - but without going into detail, one source reported. Several Member States have suggested that further work needs to be done at the technical level, with some also not wishing to commit themselves immediately to compulsory solidarity without knowing how responsibility (e.g. the new preliminary controls at external borders) will work in first entry countries.
All Member States are, however, open to discussion, this source reiterated, but they want to know more about the parameters of a reform that includes many new texts which are, for some Member States, all interconnected.
The German EU Council Presidency could decide on a further discussion in Coreper on 11 November or could wait for the Ministers’ videoconference meeting. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)