Government seeks rapprochement with Algeria while defending Frontex action in countries of origin

The Secretary of State for Security, Aina Calvo, acknowledged Monday that Spain’s collaboration with Algeria on migration is “improvable” and that the Government is working to achieve a “closer” relationship, comparable to that with Morocco or Mauritania. Calvo appeared before the Interior Commission of the Senate, where she analyzed the evolution of the arrival of boats to the Spanish coasts.

• Frontex plane searches for missing migrants from a patera between Formentera and Cabrera

The number two of the Ministry of the Interior stressed that, although in Spain irregular entries by sea have decreased, in the Balearic Islands there has been an increase compared to last year. Even so, she stressed that police cooperation with Algeria has never stopped, although she recalled that “there are noformalagreements” with this country to allow repatriations or returns.

Marlaska’s visit to Algeria and the need to move forward

Calvo mentioned the recent trip of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to Algeria, where ways to strengthen bilateral collaboration were explored. “We would all like a closer relationship,” insisted the Secretary of State, stressing that the Executive aspires to replicate models of cooperation already in place with Morocco and Mauritania, considered key in the management of migratory flows.

• Prohens demands by letter to Sánchez the intervention of Frontex in the Balearic Islands in view of the migratory increase

Calvo argues that Frontex should act at source, not in Balearic Islands

During his speech, Calvo also defended the government delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodriguez, after the controversy over the presence of Frontex air and land resources in the archipelago. The Secretary of State described as a “diversionary maneuver” the idea that the European agency could directly influence the decline in boat arrivals if deployed in the Balearic Islands or other autonomous communities.

“Frontex does not detract from our work,” he said, pointing out that its most effective deployment is in the countries of origin, where it can indeed play a deterrent role in preventing the departure of small boats. “It is much more effective at source,” he concluded.

Support for the Government Delegate in the Balearic Islands

Calvo took advantage of her intervention to express her “full support” to the Government delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez, whom she described as “committed, honest and at the service of the citizens”. Her statements come after days of public debate about the usefulness of the Frontex deployment in Balearic waters.

Continue reading:

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• Spain alerts and Algeria rescues a drifting patera that had been adrift for days