The Spanish government said on Wednesday it does not agree with a proposal to create asylum centers in countries outside the European Union, ahead of a summit of EU leaders later this week.
The 27 EU member states will meet on Thursday and Friday to discuss, among other things, a proposal from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the bloc consider using such centers to combat irregular migration.
Spanish Labor Minister Yolanda DÃaz of the left-wing Sumar (Unite) party, which is part of Spain’s governing coalition, said she did not agree with the idea.
Government spokeswoman Pilar AlegrÃa had already flatly rejected such a plan, saying: “The migration policy we are developing is already working.”
There is an ongoing debate in Spain over a plan to use a relatively new but almost disused airport in the central Castilla-La Mancha region as a reception center for migrants.
Many migrants, including minors, have arrived in recent months in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of northwest Africa. The Canary Islands are pushing for a fair distribution of these migrants and support from the central government.
According to the EU border protection agency Frontex, the number of irregular entries into the bloc in the first nine months of the year via the central Mediterranean – from Libya and Tunisia via Sicily and Malta – fell by 64% compared to the same period in the EU. last year to just over 47,700.
Meanwhile, the number of attempts to enter the EU via the West African route across the Atlantic Ocean – from North and West Africa to the Canary Islands – has doubled year-on-year to around 30,600.
