European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for joint action to strengthen border security after more than 50,000 migrants illegally entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in one day at the end of July, the BBC writes.
Spain has estimated that around 69,500 people have been returned to Morocco, which exceeds initial estimates that around 50,000 migrants entered Ceuta. 72 deaths are reported on the Spanish side, and another 11 on the Moroccan side.
European Union interior ministers will meet in an emergency video conference on the 4th of August to discuss the incident.
The incident in Ceuta has strained relations between some of the 27 EU member states.
In a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, von der Leyen praised the swift response to the crisis, but added that the incident clearly shows the need to work more carefully on strengthening the border at critical points.
Italy has temporarily suspended the Schengen agreement with Spain in response to the Ceuta incident. Finland and Denmark have supported Italy’s decision, while Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has called for Spain to be temporarily excluded from the Schengen area. Sánchez responded by saying he had serious concerns about some EU governments and stressed that Ceuta was not part of the Schengen area. He said that while most had shown solidarity and support, some governments had chosen to attack Spain based on prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interests.
In a letter to Sanchez, von der Leyen warned that protecting all external borders is a shared European responsibility,
and called for close monitoring and, where necessary, the use of physical barriers.
Von der Leyen said video conference would be an opportunity to learn from what happened in Ceuta, adding that the challenges posed by illegal immigration require a united response, cooperation and solidarity. She called on the bloc’s countries to pay serious attention to five issues. First, it is necessary to prevent illegal migration, working with partner countries. It is also necessary to strengthen external borders, introduce early warning systems, dismantle people smuggling networks and strictly implement return mechanisms.
Sanchez accused people smugglers of abusing a recent decision by Spain’s Supreme Court that limits the government’s right to immediately deport people who arrive by sea. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on the 1st of August that the situation had almost returned to normal and the country was working on building an inflatable barrier.
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