In 2021, the central government proposed as an absolute priority, in terms of security, that the new NATO road map – which was to be established at the Madrid summit – would include for the first time the importance of threats from the southern flank : terrorism, irregular immigration or the political use of energy resources. And he achieve it.
Now, the Executive of Pedro Sánchez, who will once again be at the international epicenter during the Spanish presidency of the community club in the second half of this year, has set as a "top priority" reaching the European migration pact with two perspectives: the security and foreign cooperation.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has held meetings with his European counterparts to discuss the agreement on the premise that "migration is not a problem, but rather a challenge for Europe that will endure over the coming decades." ”, according to the words of the head of the Interior himself. On these trips, in which he has asked the member states for "generosity", the minister has been able to verify the differences between the northern and southern partners.
In the Government, according to close sources, they are aware of "the enormous difficulties that exist to carry out the pact." But they believe that “it is possible”. And for this reason they are going to make the maximum effort so that the agreement is initialed during the next semester. His main asset? The migratory policy deployed by the Government itself, based on collaboration with the southern neighboring countries of origin and transit of the migratory flows that arrive in Spain. The words of President Sánchez after his interview in Rome with Giorgia Meloni should be interpreted in this key: "What we have to do is talk less about the internal dimension of migration and talk more about the external dimension of migration."
That external dimension to which Sánchez alluded, in the case of Spain has its own name: Morocco. The latest figures on irregular entries of immigrants in Spain will be the proof of conviction used by the Executive to validate its position. And it is that when relations go well with Rabat, that has an immediate effect on irregular immigration.
The data is these. During the first two months of 2022, when relations with the neighboring country remained tense, the total number of immigrants who had arrived in Spain by sea and land was 73.2% more than in the same period in 2021. The curve did not stopped rising. Especially striking was the continuous increase in flow on the Canary Islands route, one of the deadliest, which at that time was up 90%. However, after Pedro Sánchez and King Mohamed VI sealed the reunion between countries – in exchange for the Spanish turn on the autonomy of the Sahara – the statistics were reversed. The latest data, published this week by the Ministry of the Interior, reflects that so far this year 4,287 people have entered Spain irregularly, compared to 8,727 in 2022. 50.9% less.
Some figures that the Government wants to value despite the fact that they were clouded last summer with the tragic jump to the fence of Melilla in which at least 23 immigrants lost their lives as a result of the brutality with which the gendarmes acted Moroccans. But that episode, the Executive considers it closed once the Prosecutor's Office has decided not to open an investigation. The ministry headed by Marlaska is clear that police cooperation with Morocco is key to fighting criminal organizations that traffic immigrants.
In addition to having all diplomatic channels open between countries, the Government will champion the idea that migration policy also involves the importance of aid in international cooperation. In 2021, with the disagreement between Madrid and Rabat, the Interior granted 140,128 euros for police cooperation to Morocco. In 2022, the year in which the new stage was signed, more than 30 million euros were delivered in aid of this type. This is clear from a response from the Government itself to the EH Bildu deputy in Congress, Jon Iñarritu. And not only to countries with which it shares a border. Mauritania received more than ten million euros last year and Senegal just over three. These numbers seem insufficient to the receiving countries.
The sights in the area of security, facing the second semester, are set on the alleged new European legal framework that responds to the current phenomenon, with an equitable distribution. But that will not be the only priority that is put on the table. From this round of contacts, Marlaska has also extracted the need to prioritize the fight against organized crime, which has become a matter of State in the Netherlands or Belgium, where traffickers have become authentic professional unions. At the summit of Interior Ministers to be held at the end of July in Logroño, Marlaska will offer experiences such as the Special Plan for the Campo de Gibraltar as an example to advance in the fight against this scourge.
