Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Tuesday announced a series of agreements with the West African nation of Mauritania to stem the influx of migrants making the dangerous journey across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands, Spanish media reported.
Sánchez said Spain would present its circular migration programme to Mauritania and renew co-operation between the two countries’ security forces to fight human trafficking. He said, openly recognising the need for migrant workers in Spain’s aging society:
“Despite the rhetoric that is growing in Europe, migration is not a problem. It is a need that involves certain problems, and for this we must push formulas that allow us to manage the phenomenon of migration in a humane, safe and orderly way, to benefit our respective societies.”
He added that migration is a matter of “moral principles, solidarity and dignity” and therefore does not intend to stop migration completely, but rather seeks to regulate it.
As part of the new agreements, Spain will introduce transit visas for people arriving from Mauritania due to the threat of an influx of Malian migrants, especially to the Canary Islands. The transit visa requirement for people arriving from Mauritania will come into force in Spain on August 28. The duration of the visa was not specified, but the measure had previously been introduced for nationals of CAR and Senegal.
The Prime Minister thanked the Mauritanian government “for its efforts to fight illegal migration and its co-operation in combating human trafficking networks.”
Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani thanked Sánchez, who has already visited Mauritania twice this year, for Spain’s “consistent commitment to the development of our country.”
Sánchez’s visit to Mauritania is part of a three-day tour of West Africa, with Gambia and Senegal as the next destinations. It is from these three countries that most migrant boats depart to make the perilous Atlantic journey to the Canary Islands.
According to the European Union border agency (Frontex), migration from West Africa this year has increased by 154%: in the first seven months of the Canary Islands crossed 21.6 thousand people. Spanish authorities fear the arrival of another 150 thousand migrants. At the end of July, thousands of migrant children from Africa arrived in the Canary Islands, but there are not enough facilities and specialists to work with them.
