The EU will increase funds to Morocco for migration management up to 500 million

BRUSSELS, Aug. 17 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The European Union will increase to 500 million the European funds it allocates to Morocco for cooperation on migration until 2027, according to what community sources have informed Europa Press.

European diplomacy negotiates the priorities in the relationship with the North African country and the first budget estimates point to an increase in the planned allocation until 2027 to ensure border management, understanding that Morocco has become one of the key players to stop the passage of illegal migration to Europe.

These more than 500 million will go to the protection of migrants, border management and to combat human trafficking, according to the sources consulted. This allocation represents a significant increase in aid to Morocco, which received 346 million under the previous community budget.

The need to increase European funds to achieve "orderly and fair" migration from African countries was precisely expressed by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, at the last meeting of European ministers of the branch in Prague. "They need regular, predictable and significant support, which has been insufficient so far," he said.

The Spanish minister also asked to "raise the political profile" with greater dialogue with the countries of origin of the migration, citing as an example the visit to Rabat together with the Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson, to meet with the Moroccan authorities.

In fact, Rabat is one of the main beneficiaries of European funds with neighboring countries for migration management and until now it was after Libya, the second country in North Africa that benefited from more funds.

Apart from the items for migration, Morocco receives other funds in terms of budget support and regional cooperation, in line with the special relations that Brussels maintains with the group of neighboring countries in Europe and the Mediterranean.

In recent years, the episodes of massive arrivals of migrants in Spain, several of them with Morocco at the center of the crisis, have forced Brussels to act. In May 2021, Ceuta experienced a massive influx of more than 8,000 migrants, many minors, thanks to the collusion of the Moroccan security forces, who did not try to prevent the passage, in the midst of the diplomatic crisis between Morocco and Spain.

The situation on the border once again generated concern in the community capital before the summer after the death of dozens of migrants when they tried to cross into the autonomous city of Melilla.

Before, at the end of 2020, the EU allocated additional funds to deal with the massive arrival of migrants and the overcrowding that was experienced in the port of Arguineguín, in the Canary Islands, in November 2020.