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The European Commission said on Friday that no irregular migrants have moved from Ceuta to the European mainland.
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While the sudden migration crisis in the Spanish enclave has sent shockwaves across Europe and prompted calls to suspend Spain from the Schengen free-movement area, EU officials insist that migrants who crossed the border irregularly will not headto other member states.
“There are no onward movements today towards the European continent,” an EU official said, claiming that migrants will not be able to freely move through Europe, as someleading right-of-centre figures across Europe are suggesting.
Around 60,000 migrants, mostly Moroccans, stormed the Spanish enclave in Africa on Thursday in the largest surge of irregular arrivals ever recorded on EU territory. Rather than expressing solidarity, several EU countries—including Italy, Finland and Denmark—accused the government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of failing to adequately protect Europe’s external borders.
Although Ceuta is Spanish territory, it is subject to special rules governing free movement. “Checks on people leaving Ceuta and Melilla remain in place under the Schengen system. For this purpose, they are treated as the EU’s external border,” a European Commission official said.
Schengen’s free-movement rules also apply only to EU citizens, people with valid residence permits, and travellers who meet the conditions for legal entry.
By contrast, people who enter Ceuta without authorisation cannot board ferries or flights to mainland Spain without first undergoing identity checks, making it difficult for them to leave the enclave.
If an irregular migrant applies for asylum, detention measures may be applied through an accelerated asylum procedure that entered into force last June.
Pending a decision on their asylum claims, applicants are not permitted to leave Spain and are liable to be returned if they are found elsewhere in the European Union.
Only beneficiaries of international protection enjoy the right to move across the Schengen area, but Morocco is considered a “safe country of origin” under EU rules and its citizens are in principle not eligible for protection.
According to the EU Agency for Asylum, Moroccan citizens have a very low recognition rate (6%), meaning that the vast majority of those who crossed into Ceuta are expected to receive return orders to their country of origin.
According to the Spanish authorities, nearly half of the people who entered Ceuta on Thursday have already voluntarily returned to Morocco.