The migration crisis between Morocco and Spain is of bilateral nature, and Rabat rejects Brussels' attempts to "Europeanize" it, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday
BILBAO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th June, 2021) The migration crisis between Morocco and Spain is of bilateral nature, and Rabat rejects Brussels' attempts to "Europeanize" it, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.
On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a resolution rejecting Morocco's use of border control and migration, specifically with regard to unaccompanied minors, as "political pressure" against Spain, referring to the events of mid-May in Ceuta when 10,000 Moroccan illegal migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave in North Africa in just a couple days due to the passivity of the Moroccan police.
"The resolution adopted on June 10, 2021, by the European Parliament does not change the political nature of the bilateral crisis between Morocco and Spain. The attempts to Europeanize this crisis are useless and do not alter its purely bilateral nature, its root causes, and the proven responsibility of Spain in triggering it," the ministry said on Twitter.
Rabat stated that the resolution is out of phase with Morocco's accomplishments in migration cooperation with the European Union.
"These are the same people, trying to criticize Morocco in this area, who actually benefit from the concrete and daily results of cooperation on the ground," the ministry added.
In addition to the resolution of the European Parliament, the Spanish government said that it was considering the possibility of including the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa in the European visa-free Schengen Area. Currently, the residents of the Moroccan regions of Tetouan and Nador that border Ceuta and Melilla do not need visas to cross the border.
On Thursday, Moroccan lower house speaker Habib El Malki declared that "Ceuta is not European territory, but Moroccan land located in the territory of the Kingdom of Morocco."
The number of sea crossings of illegal migrants into Ceuta skyrocketed throughout May, causing the Spanish Ministry of the Interior to deploy extra army units to protect the border and divert illegal migrants back to Morocco.
