Spain helping Morocco fight migration

SPAIN will spend €26 million to buy a fleet of vehicles for Morocco’s Interior Ministry to strengthen border control and fight illegal immigration to Europe.

The equipment bought will include four different types of off-road vehicles, including ambulances, and four different types of trucks, including tankers and refrigerated lorries.

This is part of €140 million that the European Commission promised to Morocco to help pay for its efforts in the surveillance of its borders, with Spain being in charge of disbursing €40 million of it.

Increased surveillance of Moroccan borders has reduced irregular entries to Spain in the first half of the year after a record year of arrivals. The Ministry of the Interior recorded the arrival of 13,263 until June 31, a fall of 23 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The migratory pressure towards Spain began to decrease in February, coinciding with the visit of Felipe VI to his Moroccan counterpart. At that brief meeting in Rabat, the Spanish monarch asked Mohamed VI to go “further” in controlling emigration.

The EU wants cooperation and efforts to be maintained and is now negotiating extra annual payments to help ensure Moroccan cooperation.

On the table are options such as making it easier for Moroccan visitors to Spain to get visas in exchange for the kingdom making it easier for European nations to send illegal immigrants back to Morocco.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has just approved emergency funds for the Spanish Ministry of the Interior of €5.3 million.

This will be handed over to the National Police to pay for the management of four Temporary Care Centres for Foreigners. These are used to process and hold immigrants for up to 72 hours while they are identified.

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