In Spain, the shock after the attack on Ceuta is deep

The meaning behind it: According to the Spanish government, the construction is intended to force people trying to reach the exclave in North Africa by sea to overcome aphysical barrier. Only then would immediate rejection at the border be possible – as the Supreme Court in Madrid had decided three weeks earlier.

According to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the fact that this information was massively spread by smuggler gangs was an explanation for why 50,000 migrants tried to get to Ceuta and thus into the European Union within a few hours on Thursday. At least 67 people died on the dangerous journey.

By Friday evening, the vast majority of them had left the autonomous city again – voluntarily and disappointedly. “They lied to us. Nobody takes us in. It feels like a prison,” said 18-year-old Karim to the newspaper La Vanguardia. Across Spain, questions are still being asked as to how the massive rush could have happened – and why the authorities did not intervene in time.

Forest fires in focus

“It surprised us,” government officials now admit in Spanish media reports. The focus was on the devastating forest fires of the last few days. Warning signs – such as the journey of thousands of Moroccans from various cities towards Ceuta, which does not appear to have been stopped by Rabat, calls for help from the regional president of Ceuta or reports from the Guardia Civil about an increase in irregular migrants swimming across the border – were apparently not taken seriously enough.

Sharp criticism is already coming from the Spanish opposition. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative People’s Party (PP), speaks of a “triple failure” of the government, which was already aware of the situation in advance and could not do enough about it. “You have to throw them out immediately! All of them!” calls againSantiago Abascal,head of the right-wing extremist party Vox. “By any means necessary. And if the government doesn’t do it, the Spanish people have to do it themselves,” he incites his supporters.

Letter from the EU member states

The process of coming to terms with an event that has opened up old wounds from 2015/16 for many is also underway at the European level. At the initiative of Italy and Denmark, 22 EU member states, including Austria, expressed their “deep concern” in a letter to EU leaders. A meeting of interior ministers is requested and it is proposed to examine increasing support from the European border protection agency Frontex and the effectiveness of cooperation with Morocco.

The review of measures “that could act as an incentive, such as the regularization of a very high number of migrants without valid papers” is also called for. The left-wing government in Madrid had previously rejected any connection between its mass legalization process and the events in Ceuta. EU Commissioner Magnus Brunner has clarified that the work permit issued by Spain does not constitute an EU-wide work permit.

The EU must “act unitedly and decisively” when protecting its external borders, demands Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP). “We must not allow recent events to give the impression that illegal entry into the European Union could ultimately lead to legal residence.”

Sánchez is angry

Spain’s Prime Minister Sánchez, for his part, appeared angry in a letter to EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen about “the recent reaction of some European governments to the incident” – such as the demand to temporarily withdraw Spain from the European Union Schengen area to be excluded. This contradicts “Europe’s long-term interests and common sense,” said Sánchez. “Ceuta is not part of the Schengen area, there are hardly any irregular migrants left who have not been sent back, and, according to Frontex, Spain is one of the least permeable external borders of the European Union.”

With the help of Moroccan authorities, his government managed within 48 hours “to fully restore border controls, provide extensive humanitarian aid and send back practically all migrants who had crossed the border,” said the socialist prime minister, who was also requesting a meeting with the Interior Ministers of the EU Member States pleases. The support from European states, on the other hand, was “very limited”.