Moroccan immigrants were used as “throwing weapons” in the “political game”

For the socialist MEP, Moroccan migrants who entered the Ceuta enclave on Monday morning “are double victims: they are victims in their states where they live in often dire conditions (…) and are victims of these political gambling processes. which they literally throw as a throwing weapon “of the crisis between Spain and Morocco.

“When we promote agreements with states that violate human rights and have little respect for human dignity, we submit to it,” lamented Isabelle Santos, speaking at the External Relations and Human Rights webinar. organized by the Office of the European Parliament (EP) in Portugal.

For a socialist, European Parliament rapporteur on human rights and democracy in the world, “the way to solve this problem is for Europe to become less and less dependent on this type of agreement” and to pursue “an effective policy of cooperation with countries of origin. and with countries of transit ”, in addition to“ immigration policies that open up legal channels for legal immigration ”.

For his part, MEP Paulo Rangel (PSD), who participated in the same “webinar”, emphasized that “there is at least one positive thing about this incident that removes the mask of this rhetoric, which is genuinely unrealistic rhetoric.”

“I fully support migration policy and proper integration of migrants. But one thing needs to be clarified: all of them cannot come, ”he said.

According to the Social Democrat, who is a member of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Morocco has actually made “enormous efforts” to control migration flows, which, although not “ideal”, is “acceptable from the point of view of humanitarian considerations.” “.

“We, of course, must have a development policy in the countries where these phenomena occur most intensively, a more favorable migration policy, but we must have agreements with transit states,” Paulo Rangel defended, adding that these agreements will be “largely” similar to the current ones.

According to the MEP, “this is undoubtedly a humanitarian aspiration, a good sign of equality and recognition, but realism is also needed” in this area of ​​migration policy.

The crisis between Madrid and Rabat has escalated after Spain for health reasons received the Secretary General of the Polisario Front, who is fighting for the independence of Western Sahara against the occupation of Morocco.

In the past few days, about 8,000 Moroccans have been able to enter Ceuta, including about 1,500 minors, and Spain has accused Morocco of encouraging migrants to cross the borders of the autonomous regions of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa.

The European Union sided with Spain, declaring that it would not yield to Morocco’s “blackmail”.

Read also: Migration: NGOs Demand Compliance with International Standards in Ceuta

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