And the crisis is over. It can be said that even faster than it began. The interior ministers of the 27 made a statement of “firm solidarity” with Spain yesterday, praised its actions and also those of Morocco, and agreed that borders and collaboration with third countries need to be strengthened. Test passed and good holidays, gentlemen.
And the cost? That will be discussed later, as we are now in August. As always, the European Union is an expert at letting crises resolve themselves. And of course, it never makes a decision in the heat of the moment, which can be much more expensive. Although what happened with Morocco is not going to be cheap, no.
The meeting, seen this way, postpones the true solutions —providing more resources to the southern border, expanding the Frontex staff, allocating more budgets to migration issues, and establishing a true management of migratory flows at the source—, if they are ever adopted.
So this time the EU will also follow that path after the “heated” reactions of several European governments with Spain. And it is curious that, now, “all member states have applauded the management of the Spanish Government, its president and its interior minister,” as stated yesterday by the French interior minister, Laurent Núñez.
In a context of veiled reproaches, so subtle that they went unnoticed, no minister linked the regularization of immigrants undertaken by the Spanish Government, nor was there any mention of a possible “pull effect” from the Supreme Court’s decision regarding migrant entries by sea. The ministers decided that the blame lies with “the criminal networks of human trafficking and misinformation.” Problem solved.
Even the most critical governments, Italy and Denmark, toned down their rhetoric and demands towards Spain, with which they all ended up being “very satisfied.” They also praised that there were no longer any immigrants in the city; there was not a single criticism of the Spanish Government’s regularization policy; and they agreed that it is necessary to quickly counteract the “malicious external agents.” Nothing was said about Morocco’s responsibility. Rather, the opposite.
European ministers acknowledged, in fact, that Morocco acted well by collaborating in the return of those who entered Ceuta. They did not say more, but that indicates, according to officials with long experience in Brussels, that it will not be long until an economic compensation greater than the current one is negotiated with Rabat, which amounts to more than 1,000 million annually for various concepts, in addition to another 500 specifically to curb irregular immigration. “And if not, just wait,” they conclude.
Time may be as soon as within 10 days, if what thousands of Moroccan youths are already discussing on social media about storming the border is true.