At 10am on Tuesday, European Union ministers of Home Affairs convened for an urgent informal meeting to discuss recent events in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, where a surge of migrants tested the bloc’s external borders.
The session also addressed strategies to improve the overall protection of the EU's external frontiers. Spanish Minister of Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, presented an overview, reporting that 70,000 migrants had arrived in Ceuta in recent days, with 75 fatalities recorded. Spanish and Moroccan authorities worked together to return nearly all of the migrants to Morocco within 48 hours.
Following the meeting, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Magnus Brunner, highlighted that member states had shown “full solidarity with Spain”. He described the situation in Ceuta as a “test for the security of the European Union’s external borders”, adding that, for the time being, “Europe has passed this test”.
According to Brunner, none of the migrants managed to reach mainland Spain and thus enter the Schengen Area, where passport-free travel is permitted.
The ministers also agreed on the importance of cooperation with non-EU countries regarding migration issues, underlining the need for continued dialogue and joint action to manage such crises effectively.
Luxembourg was represented at the meeting by Minister of Home Affairs Léon Gloden. The Christian Social People's Party (CSV) minister praised Spain’s handling of the crisis and stressed that Spain had consistently fulfilled its obligations towards the Schengen Area throughout the incident.
Notably, 22 out of 27 EU member states had previously called for Spain’s temporary suspension from the Schengen Area, despite the fact that not a single migrant crossed into the EU mainland during the crisis.
