The French Embassy in Spain stated this Monday that the Government of President Emmanuel Macron did not sign the letter signed by 22 European countries on the migration crisis in Ceuta because it did not provide any kind of aid to Spain and “its main objective was to instrumentalize” the arrival of migrants at the border.
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“France has not joined the letter from the 22 Member States promoted by Italy, as it did not provide any concrete solidarity to Spain and its main objective was to instrumentalize the migratory wave in Ceuta against the Spanish Government and not to resolve the situation in cooperation with the Moroccan authorities,” Embassy sources told Europa Press.
In this regard, it defended that the letter promoted by Rome “deliberately ignores that Ceuta does not benefit from the free movement of the Schengen area towards the Union and that no migrant has left Ceuta” towards community territory.
“Although Ceuta is part of the Schengen area, specific rules apply there. Controls on exit and entry to the Spanish enclaves in North Africa are systematic. No migrant has reached the rest of the Union from Ceuta due to this specific crisis,” it argued.
The delegation pointed out that 48,300 migrants -96% of those who crossed from Morocco to the autonomous city- returned to Moroccan territory within 24 hours, which shows that Rome is “out of place” and that the Spanish authorities have demonstrated “capabilities” to “guarantee returns in accordance with the Union’s regulatory framework.”
“(The letter) ignores the solidarity shown by the Union, including Spain, during difficult episodes of specific migratory waves at the border between Poland and Belarus in 2021 or in Lampedusa in 2023,” it stressed.
Similarly, it criticized the letter for not framing itself “in the fundamental balance between solidarity and responsibility on which the Pact on Asylum and Migration is based, which came into force last June 12,” also pointing out that there has been a “significant” reduction in illegal entries into community territory “through all migratory routes.”
Therefore, the Embassy made it clear that the French Government has opted for “a concrete and effective response,” as well as the principle of “solidarity,” offering Spain its support “immediately or through Frontex,” the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.
Thus, faced with “comments far from the facts or positions bordering on instrumentalization,” Paris has chosen “efficiency and cooperation instead of a symbolic stance.” “However, we have taken the lead to protect our national territory and, from the first hours, we have deployed additional means to reinforce controls at the Franco-Spanish border: four mobile force units, planes, and drones have been deployed,” it indicated.
The delegation also defended that Macron already proposed on Friday to the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to hold a meeting of the Interior Ministers of the bloc, a demand made by the countries signing the letter.
The 22 European countries signed a letter linking the crisis in Ceuta with the recent Supreme Court ruling that confirmed that Spanish immigration legislation does not allow so-called hot returns, a resolution that, according to them, has been used to “trigger this attack” and “abuse” the European migration and asylum system.
