President of the Government attends Valletta Summit on migration in Malta

2015.11.10

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At the Valletta Summit, the Heads of State and Government of the European Union will meet with their counterparts from African countries that are members of the Rabat and Khartoum processes and the observers of the Process of Rabat, as well as with representatives from the African Union Commission and the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), to tackle the phenomenon of migration under an approach of shared responsibility between the countries of origin, transit and destination of migrants.

To date, these debates have been focused on five broad lines of action: tackling the root causes of migration, improving the work of promoting and organising legal migration channels, strengthening the protection of migrants and asylum seekers, as well as combating the exploitation and trafficking of migrants and improving cooperation on the issue of returns and readmissions.

Spain has been preparing proposals to improve the action of the European Union in this regard, above all through the so-called 'Rabat process', under a comprehensive vision on the policy of asylum and immigration that must be strengthened to become a genuine common policy at an EU level, according to Spain.

Spain wishes to underline, on the occasion of this summit, its model of cooperation and association with the African countries, with such successful examples as Morocco and Senegal, which work with us on such aspects as the joint surveillance of borders, cooperation at a police and intelligence level, and on the tailored execution of an effective return policy.

At the Valletta Summit, it is necessary to make the commitment between the European Union and Africa more visible, through the results of the Political Declaration and the Action Plan, in the joint management of the root causes of migratory flows and the suitable management of the risks of illegal immigration, even for the actual lives of the migrants.

Among the more tangible results of the Valletta Summit, worthy of mention is the creation of a Trust Fund by the European Union for Africa, with a provision of 1.8 billion euros, through which projects aimed at improving the joint management of the migratory phenomenon will be channelled. Spain, which was the first EU Member State to commit its financial support to this fund with at least 3 million euros, is currently working on drawing up projects that can help achieve its goals.

Following the Valletta Summit, on Thursday 12 November, at 2:30 pm, the President of the European Council has called an Informal Meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the European Union, members of the European Council, to analyse the recent evolution of the migratory crisis and to evaluate the state of the application of the measures decided upon in September and October.