Migrants: European Parliament wants to use funding and market access as leverage against Morocco
The European Parliament wants to make EU funding and preferential access to its market conditional on effective Moroccan cooperation on border control and readmissions. This political pressure is set out in a resolution adopted following the Ceuta crisis.
The text was adopted on Thursday, September 17, by 339 votes to 225, with 16 abstentions. In it, MEPs condemn the mass irregular crossings that occurred at the end of July and call for a firmer European response.
The provision most directly addressed to Rabat concerns economic relations. The Parliament believes that preferential access to the European market and EU funding should depend on neighboring countries’ cooperation in managing borders, combating people smugglers, identifying migrants and readmitting them.
The Moroccan authorities are explicitly called upon to honor their commitments, states the European Parliament. This position comes as Brussels has just released €114.7 million to strengthen Spanish resources in Ceuta.
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The resolution suspends neither funding nor any trade advantage granted to Morocco. It sets out the Parliament’s political position. Any concrete measure would then have to be proposed by the Commission and approved according to European procedures.
The return of migrants, including minors
MEPs are calling for the “swift and effective return” of all people without the right to stay in the Union. They expressly include unaccompanied minors, in accordance with European and international law.
Spain and Morocco are called upon to strengthen their cooperation to identify and take back the migrants who arrived between July 29 and 31. The issue of minors remains sensitive: Rabat says it wants their return, while Madrid reproaches it for failing to respond to several hundred cases.
The Parliament is also calling for more resources for Frontex, border infrastructure and mechanisms that can be deployed in the event of another crisis. It recalls that protecting the external borders is a responsibility shared by the Member States.
The tone is particularly harsh. MEPs denounce the use of irregular immigration as a “hybrid war tool against the territorial integrity of a Member State.” They also assert that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish and European cities whose sovereignty is “beyond any doubt.”
Any statement challenging Spanish sovereignty is deemed incompatible with the obligations of a partner country. This wording targets Moroccan claims to Ceuta and Melilla, recently reaffirmed by several officials of the kingdom.
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After preparing an exceptional procedure to speed up deportations during mass arrivals, the Parliament is now calling for Morocco’s cooperation to also influence European funding and its preferential access to the Union’s market.