Albares demands more support for Ceuta and Melilla from Europe: "The southern borders are as important as those in the east or the north"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, demanded this Wednesday from his community partners that they respond to the situation of Ceuta and Melilla with the same solidarity that Spain has demonstrated during the different crises that have affected other borders of the European Union. Upon his arrival at the informal meeting of Foreign Ministers held in Ireland, Albares defended that the Spanish borders with Africa must occupy an equivalent place on the European agenda.

"The southern land borders of the European Union are as important as the eastern or northern borders," the minister stressed, coinciding also with the celebration of Ceuta Day. Albares recalled that Spain has supported other Member States in episodes such as the instrumentalization of migration by Belarus, the war in Ukraine, migratory pressure on Italy or recent tensions related to Greenland.

The head of Spanish diplomacy has claimed that this support has not been limited to political declarations, but has also translated into economic resources, deployments and reception of refugees. For this reason, he has demanded that the European response to Ceuta and Melilla also include a financial dimension and that their condition as the only land borders of the EU with Africa be taken into account during the negotiation of the next multiannual community budget.

Albares has also focused on disinformation and so-called hybrid threats. Without publicly pointing to any specific government, he criticized that "some EU government" has contributed to "amplifying false information" related to the Ceuta crisis. "We cannot allow disinformation to enter our societies guided by EU governments," he warned, before defending that the Twenty-Seven must remain united against those who seek to generate divisions. "Without solidarity there will be no European Union," he concluded.