The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, raises the migration crisis in Europe. Through a letter he requested appear before the European Parliament to explain to the MEPs the “borderline” and “emergency” situation that the Canary Islands are experiencing and to demand the immediate support of the EU to find a solution that also affects almost all of the 5,500 unaccompanied boys and girls who arrived on the islands.
Its aim is to make European parliamentarians understand directly the “emergency situation” in which the Canary Islands find themselves, facing alone “the biggest migration crisis in our history”.
Pending a response, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) He has already asked the central government to let him cooperate in controlling immigration.
25,554 migrants in 8 months
The letter, sent to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, stresses that from January 1st to August 31st This year the Canary Islands received 25,554 migrants, which means a 123% increase compared to the first eight months of last year, during which a total of 39,910 people arrived and which represented a historical file arrivals exceeding the record of the Cayucos crisis of 2006.
This figure was already 154% higher than that recorded in 2022 and exceeded the historical ceiling reached during the call. canoe crisis from 2006.
Clavijo says that, as the southern border of Europe, the Canary Islands are the gateway to European territory for many migrants who travel from the coasts of West Africa, via the Atlantic route, “one of the deadliest migration routes in the world, where many people lose their lives trying to reach European soil.” Indeed, according to data from NGOs Every 45 minutes, a migrant dies en route to the Canary Islands.
5,500 unaccompanied minors
The head of the Canary Islands Executive alerts Metsola about the situation “completely unbearable” that the islands are suffering from the increase in the arrival of unaccompanied migrant minors, who are currently housed in the archipelago’s centres almost 5,500 boys and girls.
This letter adds to the efforts made by the Government of the Canary Islands to “to appeal for support, unity and solidarity” looking for “a common answer “We need to address this migration challenge, which does not correspond to the regions that are on the front line, such as the external borders, and which requires a coordinated response at several levels,” Clavijo explains to Metsola.
This is the second letter that the Presidency of the Canary Islands has sent to the European institutions in recent weeks, after what Clavijo has already sent to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in which he invited him to visit the archipelago to learn first-hand about the migratory situation he is going through.
Peg too asked the Pope to go to the Canary Islands to give international visibility to the migration crisis at the meeting they held on 15 January in Rome, just as they did on 17 November with the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ilva Johansson, who finally made it to the Canary Islands a month later.
Frontex request to the government
This Tuesday, Frontex Executive Director, Hans Leijtens, He said the migratory pressure on the islands is “very worrying because there is a sharp increase” in arrivals, which is why he asked political will in the central government, as well as financial and legal resources to be able to act.
“I recently visited Madrid and the Canary Islands and discussed the situation with both governments, which is very worrying. What we are seeing in Europe at the moment is that in some areas there is a decline, but especially in the Canary Islands we are seeing a big increase“structural,” Leijtens said in a speech to the European Parliament.
The executive director of the European Border and Coast Guard has admitted that he cannot work with the central government in its desire to control migration by cooperating with countries of origin and transit, because Frontex has neither the legal authorisation to do so, nor the express request from Spain.
“From what I heard in Madrid and the Canary Islands, I understand that now the priority is to work with the countries of transit and origin. But here we are limited by the lack of a legal framework, that is, agreements with Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia,” continued Leijtens, referring to the countries visited last week by the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez.
In this sense, Leijtens said the agency was looking “not for (legal) loopholes, because that seems illegal, but for ways to contribute to it. “I am entirely dependent on the requests of the Spanish authorities.”.
