Europe must strengthen the mechanism of solidarity with front-line countries like Spain, currently facing a major migration crisis in the Canary Islands, in particular through a policy of returning migrants to their country of origin, a said Monday, November 30 the French Secretary of State for European Affairs.
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"
It must be a priority: when there is an established illegal migration, we can organize a return policy
," Clément Beaune told the press during a trip to Madrid devoted in particular to the migration issue.
"
The solidarity mechanism will not be sufficient to guarantee aid
" to Spain, one of the main countries of entry into the European Union, "
but we can contribute in other ways, in particular by organizing a return policy
", he explained, without however providing details on how to increase the number of such returns.
"
External borders, police cooperation, solidarity, we must put forward a package (...) We have an interest in finding a ground of agreement with Spain on these subjects
", he continued, while the latter must to face in recent weeks a very sharp increase in the arrivals of migrants to the Canaries.
18,000 migrants arrived in the Canaries
Located in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of the African continent, the Canary Islands have become an alternative immigration route to the Mediterranean route, and more than 18,000 African migrants have landed there since the beginning of the year.
Spain signed last week with Italy, Greece and Malta a letter addressed to EU officials, in which these four countries, on the front line in the face of the migration crisis, consider the solidarity between the Twenty to be insufficient. Seven.
The four signatory heads of government criticized in particular a solidarity mechanism of the new pact proposed in September by the European Commission, describing it as "
complex and vague
".
They also complained about the “
imbalances between solidarity and responsibility
” of States and pleaded for “an
equitable distribution of the burden
”.
Referring to this letter, the French Secretary of State assured "to
understand and defend the position of Spain
", because "
we cannot have the responsibility of a country of entry without a much stronger guarantee on solidarity
" .
“
We cannot be in a situation where Europe is the first partner and the subject of returns is not discussed, as has been the case at times,
” he said.
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