Borrell defends a common immigration and asylum policy in the EU after what happened in Melilla

Ensures that NATO only deploys its troops "preventively" to defend member states

   BARCELONA, 28 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, defended this Tuesday the need for Europe to have a common immigration and asylum policy after at least 23 migrants died last week after the attempt of more than 2,000 sub-Saharan to cross the Melilla fence.

In an interview in Ser Catalunya collected by Europa Press, he has expressed his "consternation, enormous sadness and concern" for what happened in Melilla, and has regretted that in the EU they have not been able to reach an agreement to find reception channels for this people.

"We need immigrants, more and more. In Europe there is shortage and lack of labor in many sectors. This is indeed a European failure, not having a common immigration and asylum policy," Borrell said, who blamed the lack according to the different views that European countries have on this issue.

After recalling that in the EU the internal borders of the countries were abolished, he made it clear that the borders of Spain include Ceuta and Melilla, and that "there is no doubt about this".

For Borrell, it is clear that there has been "a different treatment" towards the Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war, a conflict in which he considers that Europe has reacted quickly and with unity.

Regarding Russia being on the verge of suspension of payments, he assured that it has damaged them that 300,000 million dollars of reserves have been blocked, and that this has consequences: "It is the first time that Russia cannot meet its obligations since the era of the Soviet empire".

Despite emphasizing that the EU is not a military alliance, he has defended the need for the European armies of each country to work together and in a more joint manner, thus denying that they want to build a single European army.

Faced with the desire of European states to increase defense spending, Borrell has argued that the increase in military spending "must be done in a more coordinated way at the European level, and NATO must be strengthened."

"If the Europeans are stronger, Europe will be stronger, and NATO will also be stronger", underlined the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, who has rejected that this can be interpreted as a show of belligerence, on all because of the war in Ukraine.

And it is that, according to Borrell, NATO only preventively deploys its troops to defend the member states of Russia: "Who has invaded a country is not NATO, who is systematically destroying a country is not NATO. Who bombs targets civilians and systematically destroy facilities, infrastructure and homes in a terrible war is not NATO".

Regarding the relationship that the EU has with China, he admitted that it is a "complex relationship because, at the same time, it is a partner, a competitor and a systemic rival", and he added that Europe's political and economic system is more closer to that of the United States than that of Beijing.

In spite of everything, he has claimed that the European model "is the most attractive and is the best combination that humanity has been able to achieve between political freedoms, economic progress and social cohesion".