Ceuta: has the Spanish government failed?
More than three weeks after the crisis began, the humanitarian situation in Ceuta remains catastrophic. Despite the fact that the majority of migrants have returned to Morocco, those who remain are only now being given accommodation, and minors are being taken to the mainland. Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez has convened the National Security Council to coordinate a response.
Overwhelmed and submissive
El Mundo wonders why the Spanish state is taking so long to deal with the situation:
“After almost a month's holiday, the prime minister has convened the National Security Council and the Council of Ministers today [25 August] to establish a single command structure centred on the minister for territorial policy. ... There are still 8,000 migrants in Ceuta, but the police are struggling to identify them all. ... The government is now attempting to remedy this chaos with an economic aid programme and the delivery of 45,000 vaccine doses. ... The impression that the state is crippled is the consequence of a government that is overwhelmed and clinging to a policy of appeasement which fuels suspicions about certain dependencies in the relationship with Morocco.”
Europe has made itself dependent
Exxpress looks at the bigger picture:
“Ceuta highlights like a magnifying glass where Europe's migration system is still failing. The first problem begins before the border fence. Europe has outsourced a significant part of its border protection. ... The Moroccan authorities failed spectacularly at the end of July. In mid-August, Rabat showed that it can do better: in a new operation just under 300 migrants were stopped. According to a senior diplomat, more than 20,000 security personnel are stationed at the border every day. This highlights Europe's fundamental mistake: any country that relies on another state to secure its own border effectively hands over control of that border to that state. In this way Europe has made itself dependent on authoritarian neighbours.”