It comes as no surprise that, in a world marked by global inequality and ravaged by war, people are fighting for the right to freedom of movement. We have been seeing this for decades at various different borders. Europe cannot hermetically seal itself off – and Ceuta is no exception. The fact that the EU tends to hit the panic button when people cross borders and want to exercise their rights under the asylum law in place makes it vulnerable to pressure: be it from Turkish President Erdoğan, Belarusian leader Lukashenko, the Kingdom of Morocco or the European far right.
Between 50,000 and 60,000 people reached the Spanish exclave of Ceuta last Thursday. Almost all of them were pushed back to Morocco by Spanish border officials, in some cases by force. Not a single person reached the Spanish mainland. According to Moroccan human rights organisation AMDH, nearly 130 people lost their lives attempting to cross the border, including numerous children. There has been no outcry over the pushbacks and deaths. Instead, a race is starting in the European Union to outdo each other with anti-migration positions, aimed at dismantling the last remaining standards for fundamental rights in EU migration policy and international cooperation as well.
It is unclear why tens of thousands of people suddenly set off for Ceuta. What we do know is that people travelled to the border by bus, numerous videos circulated on TikTok, and Moroccan border officials temporarily stopped their checks at the Spanish exclave. Political rivalries between Morocco and Spain are also being touted as an explanation.
The fact is, for Europe’s nationalist governments, the crossing of the border by tens of thousands of people provided yet another welcome opportunity to expand their isolationist policies. This also puts huge pressure on the fragile attempts at a human rights-based migration policy by one of Europe’s last remaining left-wing governments. The Italian government immediately sealed off the country from entries from Spain and called for Spain to be excluded from the Schengen Area. Interior Minister Dobrindt did not hesitate to promote his border controls and push backs either, which have repeatedly been ruled unlawful.
The letter from 22 heads of government to the Spanish government shows the extent to which European politics has shifted to the right. In the letter, they incorrectly criticise Spain’s recent legalisation campaign for people without valid residence permits as a ‘pull factor’. They also attack the judgement by the Spanish Supreme Court, which merely reaffirms that people who reach Spanish territory by sea are entitled to an individual asylum procedure and cannot be collectively deported – the very basis of all asylum law.
It is a damning indictment when even the already extremely restrictive standards the EU only recently agreed on during the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), are fundamentally set aside as soon as a larger number of people want to exercise their right to protection. The scenario of a temporary surge in arrivals has been discussed time and again and enshrined in law, including in the Crisis Regulation and what is termed the Solidarity Mechanism, which governs redistribution inside the EU. By now attacking the rules and fundamental rights it itself decided in an urgent letter, the German Federal Government is sawing off the branch of the rule of law on which it sits and actively promoting the authoritarian remodelling of the European Union. When, amidst the general frenzy of rearmament, migration is discussed solely in military terms, and words like ‘onslaught’ and ‘hybrid threats’ become the norm, it is hardly surprising that authoritarian regimes like to target this European Achilles’ heel. The ones who suffer are once again those hoping to find protection and a better life in Europe.
Europe has to rethink its approach: migration is not a threat, it is a social reality. If the EU opens itself to blackmail by demonising border crossings, it is entering a never-ending spiral of disenfranchisement. In a globalised world, we need sound policies on freedom of movement. Until then, one would expect even conservative governments not to ride roughshod over the rule of law at every opportunity and not to put European partners who invoke European law in the dock.