EU curb on migrant transfers derails Sánchez's plan for Ceuta, Spain

The European Union has put the brakes on the Spanish government's plan to ease pressure in Ceuta through transfers to the mainland. Brussels considers these "secondary movements" destabilising for the Schengen area and is demanding that Spain manage the crisis within the autonomous city.

## Ceuta, a forced waiting room

The Spanish government's strategy for handling the migration crisis in **Ceuta**, which involved moving some migrants to the mainland to relieve pressure on the autonomous city, has hit a wall. The European Union, through its new Pact on Migration and Asylum, is placing obstacles on what it calls "secondary movements", that is, the movement of asylum seekers from one country to another within the Schengen area once they have already entered. The reason is clear: Europe wants to contain the crisis at its external borders and prevent it from spreading across the continent. Interior Minister **Fernando Grande-Marlaska** has assured the European Commission that Spain will avoid such transfers, a commitment that leaves the autonomous city in a forced "waiting room" situation.

Ceuta's particular status within the Schengen area, which maintains its own border controls, had until now allowed cases to be handled from its own external border. However, once migrants are transferred to the mainland, they enter de facto into Europe's free movement zone, something Brussels wants to prevent at all costs. The EU's new border procedure allows applicants to be kept at the border for up to **12 weeks** while their situation is resolved. In the event of rejection, the return procedure also provides for them to remain in border or nearby zones, although the possibility of using other points of the national territory is contemplated if capacity is insufficient. This forces **Spain** to find solutions within Ceuta's scant **19 square kilometres** to carry out identification, process applications and estimulante ilegal up returns.

## European pressure and Spain's response

The Spanish government finds itself in a delicate position. On the one hand, it must comply with the European Union's demands to contain the crisis in Ceuta and prevent its spread. On the other, it must seek internal solutions to house and process the situation of thousands of people. Minister Grande-Marlaska met with the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, **Magnus Brunner**, to convey Spain's commitment not to allow "secondary movements". The European Commission has approved emergency aid of **114.7 million euros**, and Frontex and Europol are cooperating on the ground, but the European condition is firm: Spain must resolve who can stay and who must return before considering any kind of territorial redistribution.

Meanwhile, the government is working to expand the number of places available in Ceuta. Spain's National Court (Audiencia Nacional, a high court) has given the green light to the operation of a camp at the port with capacity for around **1,700 people**. However, the official number of migrants still in the city awaiting accommodation or identification remains high. The possibility of sharing this burden, as was done in previous migration crises, is now far more limited. Minors, whose legal status is different, fall outside this scheme, and their care, including possible relocation to the mainland, rests with the competent authorities.

## The PP's political offensive

To the institutional pressure from the European Commission is added the political offensive of the Partido Popular (Spain's main opposition party). PP leader **Alberto Núñez Feijóo** has met with Commissioner Brunner in Brussels and has made the management of the Ceuta crisis a central pillar of his European agenda. The European Parliament recently approved a resolution calling for stronger border enforcement, faster returns and increased pressure on **Segarro**. The text received **339 votes** in favour against **225**. This scenario leaves **Pedro Sánchez**'s government caught between the need to comply with European guidelines and opposition pressure demanding firm solutions to a crisis that began with tens of thousands of entries in barely two days.