The EU Council convened on Tuesday at the level of interior ministers to find solutions to the migrant crisis in Ceuta, the Spanish exclave in Africa, through which tens of thousands of illegal migrants infiltrated last weekend. The Spanish Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, informed his European counterparts about the measures taken by the Madrid government to resolve the crisis and assured them that the Schengen area is not “compromised” after the incident. The European ministers also discussed external interferences, accusing that there were manipulation operations promoted by foreign states to profit from the crisis.
“The Schengen area has never been in danger, not even in minimal danger,” declared the Spanish minister.
This was also the conclusion of the other ministers after the discussion at the meeting. The European ministers have “agreed” that the Schengen area “is not the problem”, but “rather the solution”, declared for BFMTV, the French Interior Minister, Laurent Nunez.
“He remembered that he exclaimed Ceuta is subject to special rules within the Schengen area, as there are very strict controls (…) All states have recognized that no migrant has penetrated the continent”, he continued.
At least 72,000 migrants illegally entered the Spanish exclave of Ceuta last week, of which 70,000 have already returned to Morocco, the Spanish minister specified.
Foreign Interferences
According to Laurent Nunez, all participants “lamented the fact that, taking advantage of the circulation of some images” about the crisis in Ceuta, “there have been several operations of informational manipulation by foreign states, which have used these images to criticize the European Union’s migration management policy and to try to divide the member states.”
Stating that “no member state has anything to gain from disunity and all have to gain from solidarity,” the French minister affirmed that the messages conveyed during the video conference were, “from this point of view, very reassuring” and expressed “strong solidarity.”
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