On Thursday 29 August, the European Commission confirmed it had received a letter from the authorities of the Spanish Canary Islands to the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, asking her in particular to visit the islands to witness the increase in migrant arrivals firsthand.
The President will respond “in due course”, said spokesperson Eric Mamer. The Spanish Canary Islands have sent an official invitation to the President of the European Commission to visit and witness what the archipelago’s government describes as an “escalating migration crisis”, Euronews reported on Tuesday 27 August.
In its letter, the government of the Canary Islands stresses “the urgent need for European support to deal with the crisis, following a 126% increase in crossings from Africa compared to last year”.
By 15 August, the Canary Islands had recorded the arrival of 22,300 migrants since the beginning of the year, mainly from Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania.
The Atlantic also remains the deadliest maritime migration route, with over 4,800 deaths already reported this year by NGOs.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, for his part, began a trip to Africa this week, notably to Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal, to sign agreements to regulate the departure of migrants to the EU.
According to data from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, irregular border crossings into the EU in the first seven months of 2024 fell by 36% compared with 2023, to 113,400.
The biggest decreases were seen on the Western Balkans and Central Mediterranean routes, but the West African route continued to record unprecedented numbers of detections, with the total number of irregular migrants arriving in the Canary Islands in the first seven months increasing by 154% year-on-year to over 21,600, according to its figures.
The Eastern Mediterranean was the second most active migration route this year, with the number of arrivals increasing by 57% to almost 29,700. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)