Gema Peñalosa Madrid
Madrid
Updated Thursday, January 25, 2024-13:21
The Ministry of the Interior is accumulating a new controversy regarding international agreements on immigration at a critical moment with the avalanche of arrivals to the coasts, especially in the Canary Islands.
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) has threatened to leave Spain and the nuncio is severe since it is an essential agency for the migration policy of the European Union.
As published by
El País,
and confirmed by EL MUNDO
, the reason for this warning is that
the Spanish authorities are delaying the signing of the operational plan proposed by that European Union agency for 2024. Frontex gives one week as a deadline, they inform this newspaper sources from the European agency.
Since last Wednesday, anti-immigration operations in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands and the Alboran Sea have been suspended.
In these areas, Frontex has maritime and land resources and agents deployed.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said this Thursday that the issue that led Frontex to suspend its operations in Spain is of a "technical" nature, and he is confident that it will be resolved "in hours, rather than in days." .
Spain is today the only EU country that has not yet renewed its joint operations with Frontex for 2024. Although relations between the Spanish Government and the agency have gone through different stages, operations have never been suspended as they are before. happening since last Wednesday.
For their part, the Ministry of the Interior has denied to this newspaper that Frontex has threatened to leave Spain.
Fernando Grande-Marlaska has been optimistic despite the seriousness of the agency's warning: "It is a technical and not an operational issue."