The operations of the European Border Agency (Frontex) in Spain have become another subject of criticism of the government’s immigration policy from the People’s Party. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has been accusing the Executive for weeks of not having requested help from the European organization in the work of controlling immigration on the Canary Islands route, while the Ministry of the Interior defends the opposite . “Frontex planes do not fly to the Canary Islands, there must be an explanation, but the government refuses to give it,” the PP leader said on Thursday during his visit to the European Parliament.
“Spain is the only country in Europe that does not have a migration policy, it does not fight against irregular immigration, it does not activate the Frontex tool, it does not have a bilateral agreement with African countries to reduce the exodus of trafficked persons. The mafias and Spain do not allow Frontex planes to fly to the Canary Islands,” Feijóo said, even though the government has bilateral agreements on migration – such as with Senegal, Morocco and Mauritania, between others – and benefits from the support of the borders. for intelligence work, but not for maritime control.
Behind the accusations launched this Thursday by the leader of the PP, which mix lies and half-truths, hides a series of disagreements between Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Frontex, on how and where the deployment of ships and planes should be activated. of the agency – which accumulates criticism for the lack of control in matters of human rights – in its objective of stopping the arrivals of migrants in the archipelago. We explain some keys.
When did the accusations of not having asked Frontex for help to stop immigration begin?
The increase in the tone of criticism dates back to an intervention by the executive director of Frontex, Hans Leijtens, in the European Parliament, in which he assured that the border agency could deploy more resources to the Canary Islands but, to do so, it would need a formal request for help from Spain which, according to its defense, it did not receive. His statements prompted the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee, chaired by PP MEP Javier Zarzalejos, to ask in a letter to Minister Marlaska “why he is not using EU tools for migration management” .
The Minister of the Interior responded in writing to the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament. In the letter sent to Zarzalejos as commission president, Grande-Marlaska details some of Spain’s requests for help from European institutions to respond to the increase in migration.
As Marlaska details in his writings, since the increase in the migratory flow via the Canary route recorded in 2020, the government has sought support from European institutions through different means. “From the start, the Spanish government requested support from European institutions. It obtained the support of the European Commission, both public and financial, and, more importantly, Spain managed to mobilize European support for African countries of origin and transit, but this was proved insufficient,” replies the minister.
What is the current deployment of Frontex in the Canary Islands?
Currently, Frontex has 60 agents mobilized in the Canary Islands. Its main functions are more related to identification, investigation and intelligence tasks, helping Spain register migrants and collect information on trafficking networks, Frontex and Interior sources confirm. They are on the ground and interview newly arrived people, either at the port or in the centers where migrants are held for 72 hours following their arrival in Spain.
“Our teams are on the ground to help manage arrivals and work with local authorities to combat organized crime involved in human trafficking,” the spokesperson for the European agency told elDiario.es , Chris Borowski.
Does Frontex have planes or ships deployed on the Canary Islands route to stop migration to Spain?
No. When the executive director of Frontex defends that the Agency could send more resources to the Canary Islands if Spain asked it, he is referring precisely to the mobilization of ships and planes in Canary waters, which is opposed the Ministry of the Interior. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t asked for European patrols to prevent the arrival of migrants along the Canary route. Interior wants this deployment to take place in African waters, and not in Spanish waters as the European organization defends.
Marlaska does not consider it necessary to send Frontex resources to Canary waters, considering that the means available to the state security forces and maritime rescue are sufficient. Interior considers that, to prevent these arrivals, “there is no point” in incorporating these European ships into the Spanish zone: “If there are migrants in Spanish waters, Frontex would not prevent these arrivals, they could only to be rescued and brought to land,” say ministerial sources. “And to help, we already have the Maritime Rescue and the state security forces,” they add.
Where the ministry requested the activation of Frontex ships and air assets is in African waters, in areas adjacent to the countries from where the majority of cayucos leave for the Canary Islands (Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal). ), because he considers this to be the most effective strategy to “prevent” arrivals.
“The causes of the increase in arrivals to the Canary Islands are not found in Spain, but in the countries of origin and transit of irregular migration, in Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, where the majority of migrants come from. boats. It is therefore in these areas that it is necessary to strengthen preventive surveillance,” say Interior sources.
Why is Frontex not sending resources to African waters as Spain requests?
Frontex could deploy its ships in Spanish waters if Spain requests it, but to enter other countries’ waters it needs procedures that go beyond the Spanish government and the border agency. According to the regulation that governs the functioning of Frontex, the EU must reach a “status agreement with the third country concerned”.
“To operate in African waters, we need a special agreement between the EU and the African countries concerned, such as Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal,” explains the Frontex spokesperson. “For the moment, these agreements do not exist and without them we cannot work on the ground. »
What is the conflict between Marlaska and Frontex?
In his letter to the European Parliament, the Spanish Interior Minister criticized statements made by the executive director of Frontex in Brussels, denying that he had not requested the Agency’s support to respond to migration to Canary Islands. According to Marlaska, his ministry requested his support several times but “their responses were disappointing.”
Interior defends that Frontex, as the European external border agency, is the entity that must promote to the European Commission the agreement that requires its intervention in African waters. “Frontex has not achieved this with any African country from which the ships arriving in the Canary Islands depart,” laments Grande-Marlaska in her writings.
“Despite the lack of support from Frontex on what the Canary Islands need as a priority, we will continue to insist on the need to focus efforts on prevention and it is for this reason that we have reiterated our request to Frontex to support the EU, Spain and the Canary Islands with surveillance means in Africa, not in waters under Spanish responsibility,” reiterated the head of the Interior “The absence of a positive response to the request for support. requested by Spain does not mean that Spain has not repeatedly requested the agency’s support. What was possible and effective in the past should also be possible today.
For its part, Frontex maintains that, not having legal personality, its agency does not have the responsibility to request such an agreement from Brussels. “Frontex is ready to intervene, but it is up to the European Commission and African governments to negotiate these agreements,” replied an Agency spokesperson to elDiario.es.
Has Frontex already patrolled African waters to prevent arrivals in Spain?
Yes, thanks to the Hera surveillance operation in African waters, in Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal, promoted in 2006 during the so-called canoe crisis in the Canary Islands. The operation was extended until 2018. The former executive director of Frontex, Gil Arias, explains to elDiario.es that at the time only formal authorization from countries like Senegal was necessary to send ships and Frontex planes to African countries. However, after the reform of the Agency’s regulations in 2019, it requires the conclusion of a specific agreement with the European Commission.
What kind of criticism does Frontex accumulate?
In recent years, Frontex has been widely criticized for the lack of transparency and little independent oversight of its operations. The agency has been accused of human rights violations during some of its actions in countries where it is authorized to carry out maritime surveillance, such as documented abuses on the route to Greece, where the agency has collaborated in carrying out hot returns of potential asylum seekers. The European Anti-Fraud Agency (OLAF) report concluded that the European Border Agency was complicit in these human rights violations.
The report highlights that Frontex management repeatedly concealed suspected cases of fundamental rights violations from its own agents and prevented them from working, as the agency withdrew its aerial surveillance to stop recording such violations. The study also showed that the agency co-financed some of the Greek entities that achieved good returns, thereby misleading the bodies responsible for overseeing the agency. Although these pushbacks constitute “serious or persistent legal violations,” Frontex has not withdrawn from joint operations as required by the agency’s regulations.
“In addition to allegations of collusion with Greek authorities in violent pushbacks in the Aegean Sea, Frontex faces accusations of systematically communicating to the Libyan coast guard the location of migrant and refugee boats located in the Mediterranean, in violation of the law internationally by delivering the castaways to the island. a place not only dangerous but also criminal, where they suffer confinement, rape, torture and death,” analyzes a report from the PorCausa Foundation. “There is a worrying culture of opacity, of systematic non-reporting of incidents, which prevents the Agency from having a true vision of what is happening on the ground*. “Potential serious incidents of violations of fundamental rights,” the document adds.
