The European Union has praised Spain’s « swift response » to the migrant crisis in Ceuta, following a meeting of the bloc’s interior ministers on Tuesday.

Around 72,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish territory in North Africa between 30 and 31 July, Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said. He added that an estimated 70,000 have since been returned to Morocco.

At least 75 people died on the Spanish side of the border, while 11 deaths were reported in Morocco.

Tuesday’s meeting was called after several EU members expressed concern over Spain’s handling of the crisis, with Italy describing images from Ceuta as « shocking » and suspending its Schengen agreement with Spain.

Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, said the EU stood in solidarity with Spain and that migration required « a united European response ».

The meeting had been expected to draw some tension, following earlier criticism of Spain from some EU nations.

On Thursday, Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said such « uncontrolled immigration » was a security threat to Europe.

Italy suspended its Schengen zone agreement with Spain on free movement on Friday, but since the two countries do not share a land border, this would only apply, effectively, to flights – which appears simply to mean extra checks for passengers.

The Schengen agreement eliminates border checks and now encompasses more than 450 million people and 29 countries in Europe.

Finland and Denmark backed Italy’s move, while Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš urged a temporary suspension of Spain’s Schengen membership.

Italy, along with Denmark and 20 other nations, later sent a letter expressing their concern over the Ceuta migrant crisis.

In response, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he had « serious concerns » about some European governments and pointed out that Ceuta was not part of the Schengen area.

While most had shown « support and solidarity », he said other European governments had chosen to attack Spain, « driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance, or political interest ».

Speaking after the meeting on Tuesday, Grande-Marlaska said the Schengen zone had not been compromised and that he hoped Italy would lift any added controls « as soon as possible ».

Denmark’s immigration minister Morten Bødskov said he was « very satisfied » with Spain’s quick response, but added that the incident showed « it is absolutely crucial that we have control over the EU’s borders ».

Speaking afterwards, EU commissioner Magnus Brunner said the incident had been a « test » of European resilience and border security – which he said it had successfully « passed ».

Brunner added that the EU had offered Spain emergency financial support to strengthen its borders and manage the crisis.

It is unknown exactly what led the tens of thousands of migrants to cross from Morocco into Ceuta in a span of just a few hours last week.

Brunner said it is thought that the influx was fuelled by criminal networks and social media disinformation.

The crossings came after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish exclave, cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.

Moroccan authorities later said that it had warned Spain the ruling would cause « a problem », but Spain rejected this claim, with a government spokeswoman saying it had no evidence or intelligence « that alerted us to the magnitude of this unprecedented event ».

Spain’s interior minister said he was working « firmly » with Morocco to avoid further « violations » of Spain’s borders and added that any migrants still in Ceuta would be returned to Morocco as soon as possible.

Images from inside Ceuta on Tuesday showed crowds of migrants gathering near the beach to receive food, water and other aid. Some held makeshift banners with the word ‘asylum’ written on them.

Several people were also pictured sleeping on the beach and on streets across the city.

Concerns have been raised over the treatment of the remaining migrants, in particular of unaccompanied minors, with local media reporting some 800 children being held in facilities across the city.

Grande-Marlaska said the rights of all migrants, especially those underage, were being respected during the crisis, with Spain’s government allocating around 25m euros (£21.4m; $28.8m) to assist minors in Ceuta.

World Opinion + Agencies

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Many Moroccans, especially the youth, have high hopes that new horizons will be opened in this election, politicians from dozens of parties were campaigning trying to reach millions of Moroccans for a final day Tuesday. The outcome of the voting is difficult to predict as Morocco has wisely banned all political polls, something the U.S. could learn form one of its strong allies.

These elections also come to constitute an important turning point in the country’s history, as Morocco is on the verge of a development model that has caught the world’s attention with its enlightened proposal. It also reflects the desire of Moroccans to reconcile the historical dimensions of the monarchy in Morocco and the principle of democracy that Morocco has chosen as a path of development.

The Interior Ministry said polls had opened without any hitches in the vote for 30,000 local council seats and nearly 700 regional assembly posts among nearly 30 parties. First results were expected late on Friday.

It should be noted that the Islamic Justice and Development Party is standing on the threshold of a resounding loss. Followers of the Moroccan political track confirm that one of the main reasons is the inability of this party to fulfill its electoral commitments and its failure to manage the country’s public affairs, which often led to the direct intervention of the country’s monarch to correct the internal policy, and respond to the aspirations of the citizens.

Morocco’s Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) that leads the governing coalition held only a few towns in 2009 elections and Friday’s vote will show to what extent they have made a difference at grassroots level after rising to power in the wake of the Arab Spring revolts.

The proactive steps taken by the King of Morocco early to confront the Covid-19 virus have spared the country great loss of life, and even led to Morocco becoming a source of medical equipment and virus tests for the rest of the African continent.

The elections on the eighth of September in Morocco also come to confirm to the world that judging the democratic experience in the North African region should not be limited to the model of military control, as is the case in Algeria, but rather it is supposed to give more support to other examples, especially Morocco.

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L’article Morocco’s Pivotal Elections See Dozens Of Parties Campaigning est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.