Madrid (AFP)

More than 150 migrants on Friday forced the land border between Morocco and Spain, the day after the arrival of hundreds of others on the Greek island of Lesbos: the south of Europe remains under strong pressure, which fuels the tensions between EU countries.

At dawn, 155 migrants used the fog to cross the fences of Ceuta, one of the two Spanish enclaves in Morocco, with Melilla, which form the only land borders of the European Union with Africa.

All of them from sub-Saharan Africa and Guinea in majority, "some climbed the fence, others broke one of its doors," told AFP a spokesman for the local prefecture.

This is the first time in a year that such a large influx of migrants has succeeded in Ceuta. Since the beginning of the year, 671 migrants had managed to enter the city, but by other means, including hiding in vehicles.

This is less than in 2018, when Spain was the first gateway to illegal immigration into Europe. It was exceeded this year by Greece, where Thursday about 540 migrants arrived on the island of Lesbos aboard 13 boats.

In Europe as a whole, migratory pressure declined, with some 46,500 people smuggled as of August 28, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), compared with more than 68,000 at the same time last year.

But more than 900 migrants have died since the beginning of the year. And those that the boats of humanitarian organizations collect at sea remain undesirable in Italy and Malta.

- Hard distribution -

Fifteen migrants rescued by the Open Arms boat landed in southern Spain on Friday, after a weeks-long odyssey - the quota accepted by Madrid under a distribution agreement with Germany, France, Portugal and Spain. Luxembourg.

A Spanish warship went to fetch them after the categorical refusal of Italy's interior minister and far-right leader Matteo Salvini to welcome them.

The fate of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean by humanitarian ships is regularly the subject of delicate negotiations to distribute their passengers.

The southern European countries, on the front lines, are calling on the other EU states to take more care of migrants landing on their territory.

"Countries that do not have maritime borders must also assume their share of responsibilities," said Thursday the number two of the Spanish government, Carmen Calvo, in front of the parliament.

Matteo Salvini must be ousted in the coming days of the Italian government after a political crisis he himself caused.

His party, the League, will emerge from the government, its anti-system former partners of the Five Star Movement having found a new ally, the Democratic Party (center-left), which allowed them to avoid early elections.

The migratory issue will nonetheless arise very quickly to the future Italian executive: a new humanitarian boat, the Mare Jonio, claims authorization to dock on the Italian island of Lampedusa for 34 migrants on board.

And in Spain, the debate is raging too.

Thursday, in Parliament, the socialist government has been harshly criticized for its migration policy, by the right and the extreme right and by the radical left, with whom it is imperative to pass an investiture agreement in September to avoid new elections.

And in response to the radical left, the Minister of Transport José Luis Abalos, he stressed that Spain was "the country that makes the most in terms of rescues at sea."

© 2019 AFP