Ceuta Calls for More EU Help over Migration Crisis

Juan Jesús Vivas, the regional president of the Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta, has called on the European Union for more help in tackling the ongoing migration crisis.

According to DPA, Vivas said the EU should establish a permanent presence in Ceuta, for example through the border agency Frontex or the European Union Agency for Asylum.

He also called for financial assistance for infrastructure needed to secure the border with Morocco and to tackle the humanitarian emergency, particularly the care of unaccompanied minors.

Spanish government figures suggest that around 72,000 migrants reached Ceuta from Morocco on 30 and 31 July, either by swimming around the border barriers or climbing over border fences. At Vivas’s press conference in Brussels, a figure of around 80,000 arrivals was also cited, although he acknowledged that the exact number was unknown. The influx has become the latest flashpoint in Europe’s long-running migration debate.

It also remains unclear how many migrants are still in Ceuta, with estimates ranging from 5,000 to as many as 15,000. Vivas is calling for greater EU involvement in border security and managing the humanitarian consequences of the crisis.

(dpa, max)