Interior will address in the RAN with Morocco to increase the ability of migrants to return and the fight against terrorism

MADRID, 1 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministry of the Interior will seek in the High Level Meeting (RAN) with Morocco to reactivate the return routes to increase the capacity to expel migrants in an irregular situation, within an agenda that will address the exchange of police information on matters such as the fight against terrorism or organized crime, sources from this ministerial department have informed Europa Press.

The meeting between the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and his Moroccan counterpart, Abdelouafi Laftit, is held a week after a 25-year-old Moroccan murdered a sacristan in Algeciras (Cádiz) in what the National Court has described as as a jihadist attack. The Moroccan press assured yesterday that they had not received any official request from Spain to expel him, after being detected in an irregular situation in June 2022.

In the context of the RAN, the Government seeks to recover the ability to return migrants prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. It currently stands at 9.1% of those who arrive irregularly, including migrants from the Maghreb and other areas such as Latin America.

These sources point out that the Minister of the Interior has already met thirteen times with his Moroccan counterpart in just under five years. The good results of joint anti-terrorist operations stand out, which has led to the arrest of 104 suspected terrorists since 2014.

They also want to continue good relations to stop irregular migratory flows, which have managed to lower the number of arrivals by 25% in 2022 and 69% so far this year, according to official Interior data.

The ministerial department headed by Marlaska wants to advance in the full normalization of the reopening of the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla, opened in May of last year for cross-border workers.

Interior sources recall that in 2023 the improvements to what they call 'smart border' in these two autonomous cities are expected to be fine-tuned, with other milestones such as the full opening of commercial customs -- which depend on Foreign Affairs and the Treasury -- and an end to the so-called atypical trade of carriers.

In this way, the delegation of the Ministry of the Interior wants to continue advancing with Rabat on the points of the 'road map' agreed after the Government of Pedro Sánchez supported the Moroccan project for Western Sahara.

Among the points to be discussed are other aspects such as fighting against the economic structures of organized crime, illicit vehicle trafficking or environmental protection, as well as delving into the "success" of the last Operation Crossing the Strait, reactivated this year after the pandemic, and which allowed the flow of three million people and 700,000 vehicles.