The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has assured that the meeting with his counterparts from the European Union who had requested to curb the Schengen area due to the migratory crisis in Ceuta has been carried out in a “satisfactory” manner for Spain, once it was explained at the meeting that the autonomous city has a “special regime” since 1991, which prevents anyone from leaving “without effective documentary control.”
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The Interior Minister explained that in the meeting, which was held telematically, the European partners recognized the “effective” and “immediate” response of the Government to this “unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” during which about 72,000 people entered by bypassing the El Tarajal breakwater, of which 70,000 have already returned to Morocco, according to the updated figures provided by Grande-Marlaska.
The minister recalled that the Schengen area, which allows free movement within the community territory, has not been “at risk in any way,” as there was no possibility of “any secondary movement,” which could have meant that the people who entered Spain en masse last Thursday could reach the Peninsula. And to cross from the autonomous city, for example, to Algeciras by ferry, it is necessary, even for European citizens, to show an identity document at the police control.
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The minister insists that the CNI did not warn that “anything like” the mass entry in Ceuta could happen
Marlaska also insisted that the Spanish intelligence services did not warn that “anything like” the mass entry of immigrants recorded in Ceuta on July 30 could happen, nor anything similar to what happened in the migratory crisis the autonomous city suffered in 2021. When asked about the actions of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and after expressing his “trust and recognition” for the work of “all Spanish intelligence services,” the minister emphasized that “there was no report” nor “any warning” that “anything like what has happened could occur.”
“But not anything like what has happened, nor anything like what happened in 2021, when 10,000 people entered Ceuta irregularly,” detailed the head of the Ministry of the Interior. And he stressed that “if there had been any possibility of something like that” happening, it “would have had much more complementary information channels” and would have reached the “highest levels.” “I think that says it all. The information that existed is what has been noted and what other members of the Government of Spain have said,” defended Marlaska, emphasizing that only an increase in irregular entries, as happens in other summer seasons, could be foreseen.
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