The State wants to strengthen collaboration with Frontex at source to control migration.

PalmThe Secretary of State for Security, Aina Calvo, has defended the need for greater Frontex cooperation in countries of origin as a key tool for controlling migratory flows. "We have seen, tested, and proven that the important thing is to prevent the boats from reaching our country. We believe this would be a much more useful task and would allow us to attack the problem at its root," she stated. Calvo made this statement during her visit to the Civil Guard's oceanographic vessel. Duke of Ahumada, anchored at the Portopí naval station, and which, among its key functions, includes controlling irregular immigration and combating human trafficking organizations. Calvo explained that "operational capacity at the source of the crisis has a lot to do with the 40% decrease in migratory flows in Spain in the last three years," although she also mentioned the "strong and constant" migratory pressure on the Balearic Islands.

According to the Secretary of State, "the technical work of the security forces and the personnel of the Ministry of the Interior makes it advisable to call for more Frontex cooperation at the source of the crisis. In this regard, she noted that Spain is not the only member state that values the need to refocus deployments on the source of the crisis. However, she emphasized that the functions of the mission are better for intervention" and stressed that the Spanish government wants to continue the presence and resources of Frontex, with whom ongoing discussions are held.

Calvo also praised the work of the Ministry of the Interior and the Civil Guard in the fight against irregular immigration. He noted that arrivals have fallen by 40% in recent years, with 26,400 people in Spain, compared to 53,000 in Greece and 38,000 in Italy, and he emphasized the role of international and police cooperation.

Repatriation of minors

The Secretary of State emphasized the importance of collaboration with countries like Algeria, with which the Ministry of the Interior is working to open new channels of cooperation and with which Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska met last week. During Marlaska's trip to Algeria, the request for the repatriation of seven Algerian minors who had arrived alone on the shores of Ibiza was also discussed, a case currently under investigation by the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office. The President of the Catalan Government, Marga Prohens, took the opportunity to call on the Spanish government to repatriate the more than 300 Algerian minors in care in the Balearic Islands. The Secretary of State recalled that Algeria, "as a sovereign state, freely decides who can be repatriated and who cannot." "It does not depend on the government, much less on an autonomous community; it is a matter of the country of origin," she pointed out.

Calvo added that the case is in the hands of the Prosecutor's Office, which is "the one that has the information, conducts the analysis and interviews, and ensures compliance with the law and the protection of minors." The Spanish government, he asserted, has nothing to say on the matter and is unaware of the reasons why Algeria chose these seven minors and not others. "We should ask Algeria. Each state is sovereign and uses the channels it has. I cannot respond on behalf of Algeria," he added. The repatriation protocol, he explained, would work the same way if it were Spain that requested action from a third country regarding one of its citizens.