“The Canary Islands are the external border of Europe, what happens here affects us all. You are not alone. The EU supports Spain in this common challenge.” The Vice-President of the European Commission, Marguerite Schinasannounced this Wednesday during a visit to Tenerife a new community action planwith five concrete measures, to help the islands face the current migration crisis. He did so during a joint press conference with the Canarian president, Fernando Clavijo.
The plan includes a extraordinary fund of 14 million euros, the objective of which is increase the reception capacity and “relieve the pressure caused by irregular arrivals”. This money is in addition to the €20 million in urgent aid that Brussels already allocated to the Canary Islands in March.
In addition, the Community Executive will establish the rules for the use of the regional funds assigned to the archipelago, so that they can be more easily redirected to migration management.
[Frontex dice que puede hacer más en Canarias pero necesita una petición oficial de Sánchez]
Schinas also proposed to extend the deployment of officers from the European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex), as well as officials from the European Asylum Agency. Frontex Director, Hans Leijtensalready said at the beginning of September that it could do more to help the Canary Islands, but for this it needs an official request from the government of Pedro Sanchezwhich has not arrived yet.
Currently, Frontex It already has 60 soldiers deployed in the Canary Islandswho assist local authorities with “key tasks” such as registering and fingerprinting migrants, as well as providing translation services and conducting interviews with migrants.
I came to the Canary Islands to transfer the president @FClavijoBatlle a message of solidarity and unity in the management of migration.
The Canary Islands are the external border of Europe, what happens here concerns us all.
You are not alone. The EU supports Spain in this common challenge. pic.twitter.com/qRUeTCUNqn
– Margaritis Schinas (@MargSchinas) September 18, 2024
Fourthly, Brussels commits to strengthen cooperation with Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia (the main countries of origin and transit of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands) in terms of border management, repatriation, prevention of human trafficking and legal migration routes.
Finally, the Community Executive offered the Canary Islands financial, operational and technical support for the implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, but without going into any kind of details.
“Addressing the migration challenges in the Canary Islands requires a collective response with full cooperation and synergies at European, national and regional levels“The EU is ready to support the management of migration in the Canary Islands with concrete initiatives,” explained Vice-President Schinas.
For his part, Clavijo praised the Commission’s “energetic response to the migration emergency in the islands”. “The Commission’s support is essential to achieve effective management of the an emergency which, I repeat, cannot fall only on the Canary Islands“It’s a question of state and Europe,” he insisted.
