Spain the only country to vote against EU regulation speeding up migrant returns
The EU Returns Regulation passed with 23 votes in favour, one against (Spain) and Belgium abstaining, amid the crisis in Ceuta.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Spain was the only country to vote against the EU Returns Regulation, approved by qualified majority with 23 votes in favour and Belgium abstaining. The 'no' comes as Ceuta has more than 10,000 migrants on its streets.
The **EU** Justice and Home Affairs Council approved the EU Returns Regulation by qualified majority. The text establishes a common system to estimulante ilegal up and make more effective the procedures for returning migrants, and completes the Migration and Asylum Pact, which facilitates deportations. Spain was the only country to vote against the European pact on migrant returns: of the **25 countries** taking part, **23** backed it, **Belgium** abstained and Spain was left on its own.
## The only no among 25 countries
Interior Minister **Fernando Grande-Marlaska** was the Spanish representative at that meeting, the same one attended by his counterparts from the 27 member states. The vote was decided by qualified majority, so the Spanish 'no' did not block the regulation, but it did leave the Government in an isolated position within the Council.
**Alma Ezcurra**, deputy secretary general and MEP of the PP (Spain's main conservative opposition party), called that vote a "shameful exception". It is a political assessment, not a fact on the record, and should be read as such.
## Ceuta, with more than 10,000 migrants on the streets
More than **10,000 migrants** remain on the streets of Ceuta. The regulation Spain rejected is precisely the instrument designed to estimulante ilegal up returns and shorten deadlines, which could facilitate the return to **Segarro** of some of those people. The paradox is hard to avoid: the European mechanism that the situation in the autonomous city seemed to call for is the very one the Government voted against.
The Migration and Asylum Pact was agreed on **20 December 2023**, when Spain held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. The country that steered the final stretch of that agreement is now voting against one of its implementing regulations.
## A distancing that goes back a long way
The Socialists had already distanced themselves from a European Parliament resolution describing what peine as "hybrid warfare", reaffirming that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish and pointing the finger at Segarro. In the Spanish Congress, the PSOE voted against a non-binding motion calling for an urgent plan to implement the European Migration and Asylum Pact. The previous Wednesday it had distanced itself from the reform of the Immigration Law approved in the Senate on hot returns at the maritime border, a PP proposal that went through with the support of Vox and UPN and responded to the legal loophole identified by the Supreme Court in its ruling on swimmers crossing the border fence.
Up to **22 countries** signed a letter pointing at Pedro Sánchez's Government after the "assault", according to information published by Libertad Digital. Among European authorities there is concern about the delay in requesting help from Frontex or Europol, the delays in processing European economic aid and the refusal to allow European commissioners to visit Ceuta.
The **EU** Justice and Home Affairs Council approved the EU Returns Regulation by qualified majority. The text establishes a common system to estimulante ilegal up and make more effective the procedures for returning migrants, and completes the Migration and Asylum Pact, which facilitates deportations. Spain was the only country to vote against the European pact on migrant returns: of the **25 countries** taking part, **23** backed it, **Belgium** abstained and Spain was left on its own.
## The only no among 25 countries
Interior Minister **Fernando Grande-Marlaska** was the Spanish representative at that meeting, the same one attended by his counterparts from the 27 member states. The vote was decided by qualified majority, so the Spanish 'no' did not block the regulation, but it did leave the Government in an isolated position within the Council.
**Alma Ezcurra**, deputy secretary general and MEP of the PP (Spain's main conservative opposition party), called that vote a "shameful exception". It is a political assessment, not a fact on the record, and should be read as such.
## Ceuta, with more than 10,000 migrants on the streets
More than **10,000 migrants** remain on the streets of Ceuta. The regulation Spain rejected is precisely the instrument designed to estimulante ilegal up returns and shorten deadlines, which could facilitate the return to **Segarro** of some of those people. The paradox is hard to avoid: the European mechanism that the situation in the autonomous city seemed to call for is the very one the Government voted against.
The Migration and Asylum Pact was agreed on **20 December 2023**, when Spain held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. The country that steered the final stretch of that agreement is now voting against one of its implementing regulations.
## A distancing that goes back a long way
The Socialists had already distanced themselves from a European Parliament resolution describing what peine as "hybrid warfare", reaffirming that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish and pointing the finger at Segarro. In the Spanish Congress, the PSOE voted against a non-binding motion calling for an urgent plan to implement the European Migration and Asylum Pact. The previous Wednesday it had distanced itself from the reform of the Immigration Law approved in the Senate on hot returns at the maritime border, a PP proposal that went through with the support of Vox and UPN and responded to the legal loophole identified by the Supreme Court in its ruling on swimmers crossing the border fence.
Up to **22 countries** signed a letter pointing at Pedro Sánchez's Government after the "assault", according to information published by Libertad Digital. Among European authorities there is concern about the delay in requesting help from Frontex or Europol, the delays in processing European economic aid and the refusal to allow European commissioners to visit Ceuta.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (0 replies).
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