The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has denied having knowledge of “any report that could foresee the magnitude” of the migration crisis at the end of July in Ceuta, thus rejecting the thesis of the declassified CNI reports that warned of a call for an “assault” on Ceuta.
“I have no knowledge of any report that could foresee the magnitude of what happened on July 30,” he said before correspondents in Brussels, asked about the latest information following the declassification of Intelligence reports by the Government, among which it is noted that there were these warnings to Morocco of numerous groups of people who wanted to enter Ceuta. “What I do know is that everyone, in all ministries, all administrative bodies, from the first minute when they became aware of what was happening, did everything in their power to stop that flow and then reverse it,” he defended before the cameras.
Agenda in Brussels
Albares has addressed the matter with the European Interior Commissioner
Albares was in Brussels after addressing the Ceuta crisis in meetings with the Interior Commissioner, Magnus Brunner, the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, and also with part of the team from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex. According to him, in all these meetings he was informed that neither the European Commission nor Frontex had indications during the days prior to the massive crossing of more than 80,000 people on July 30 and 31.
The minister has assured that he raised this issue with Brunner, as well as with Frontex technicians, and both responded that they had no information that could foresee the massive entry. “They have significant satellite resources,” the minister recalled. “Both Commissioner Brunner and the people who work more technically and operationally told me absolutely not, that they saw nothing and had no indication,” insisted the head of Spanish diplomacy.
The European Commission announced this Wednesday the unlocking of more than 114 million euros in aid to Spain for the Ceuta crisis and also guaranteed Frontex’s readiness to strengthen its operational support, as requested by Pedro Sánchez’s Executive. The endorsement from Brussels comes after weeks of contacts between Madrid and the technicians of the community capital to determine the specific needs after the massive crossing of migrants at the end of July.
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