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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has convened an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Council as authorities in Ceuta struggle with the aftermath of the mass arrival of tens of thousands of migrants from Morocco almost four weeks ago.
The council will meet at Madrid’s Moncloa Palace ahead of the first cabinet meeting after the summer break to assess the situation and coordinate the government’s response.
Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast bordering Morocco, has been under intense pressure since tens of thousands of people crossed the border on 30 and 31 July.
Spain’s Interior Ministry previously put the number of arrivals at around 72,000, about 70,000 of whom had subsequently returned to Morocco. However, the Spanish government’s representative in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, said on Monday that more than 80,000 people had entered through the Tarajal border.
Pérez Triano acknowledged that the city remained “very far” from returning to normal, 25 days after the crisis began.
Speaking after meeting officials from the National Police’s Immigration and Borders Brigade, he said additional facilities had been opened but there were still not enough places for all those requiring assistance.
Pérez Triano also rejected calls for his resignation, saying stepping down in the middle of the crisis would be “an absolute act of irresponsibility and cowardice”.
Spain is preparing to send up to 25,000 vaccine doses to Ceuta, according to El País, which cited an agreement by the country’s Public Health Commission.
PP demands more staff to process returns
Spain’s opposition People’s Party (PP) stepped up pressure on the government on Monday, calling for more immigration officials to be sent to Ceuta to speed up the processing of returns.
Party spokesperson Borja Sémper said “all the immigration units that are needed” should be deployed and work three shifts a day to process the cases of migrants who remain in the city.
“It is unacceptable that returns are being processed as if this were a normal situation, because it is extraordinary,” Sémper said.
“As many civil servants as necessary must be mobilised for as long as necessary. They must all be returned, and as soon as possible,” he added.
Borrell criticises Europe’s response
Meanwhile, former Spanish foreign minister and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has described Europe’s response to the mass arrivals in Ceuta as “hysterical, disproportionate and absurd”.
Borrell accused EU countries of failing to show solidarity with Spain and rejected claims that the crisis was caused by the country’s migration policies.
“Several countries, all except France, Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland, have gone into panic. European solidarity has disappeared. The laws must be applied,” he said.
Twenty-two EU countries have criticised Spain’s migration policies, arguing that measures including its regularisation of undocumented migrants have acted as a “pull factor”.
Borrell said Europe needed to strengthen its external borders, but defended Spain’s handling of minors and potential asylum seekers who remain in Ceuta.
“The Spanish government is right to emphasise that minors have rights: the laws must be applied,” he said.
Borrell also called on Madrid to take a firmer stance in Brussels and rejected suggestions that Spanish migration policy was responsible for the crisis.