{"text":[[{"start":6.84,"text":"EU interior ministers and the European Commission on Tuesday offered their full solidarity to Spain — five days after 72,000 migrants overwhelmed border controls and poured into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from Morocco. As Europe was confronted with another deadly migration crisis, at least 75 people died, mostly drowning in a desperate attempt to make it to Spanish territory. The show of EU support to Madrid was well overdue and not entirely convincing. The wounds from this episode are likely to fester. The Ceuta crisis has once again exposed Europe’s dual vulnerability: to external pressure, with neighbouring states using migrant flows as a means of coercion, and to internal political division as nationalist anti-immigration parties gain in strength."}],[{"start":56.46,"text":"The EU’s border control has actually improved, with irregular entry down by 55 per cent in the past two years. The bloc has adopted new streamlined procedures for asylum seekers on common rules to speed up returns. But at first glance, the Ceuta influx told a different story. The images were disturbing. They were perfect propaganda material for far-right politicians seeking to whip up fear of foreign “invasion”."}],[{"start":82.84,"text":"Some governments understandably felt they needed to reassure their publics that any onward migrant flows would be stopped. But the knee-jerk way they did so was cynical and self-defeating. Italy’s rightwing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, led the call for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen internal border-free travel zone and Rome introduced passport checks on flights and ships from Spain. But it should have been clear to her from the outset that Ceuta sits outside Schengen and travellers from there have to show passports and permission to reach mainland Spain. None of the 72,000 have made it there; all but 2,000 have returned to Morocco."}],[{"start":119.64,"text":"Meloni and her allies looked like they were singling out Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, one of the last leftwing leaders in the EU and a pro-immigration outlier, for blame. They turned on him because he is seen as too lax, especially after he offered an amnesty for irregular migrants living in Spain, for which 1.2mn people have applied. Most EU leaders claim this will encourage illegal migration, although the evidence is thin. Magnus Brunner, EU migration commissioner, said on Tuesday the regularisation was “not a good signal for the rest of Europe”."}],[{"start":152.6,"text":"The lack of immediate support to Spain matters because it appears the Ceuta influx could have been an attempt by Rabat to punish Madrid, possibly for seeking to improve ties with Algeria, Morocco’s neighbour and rival. Witnesses last week reported a curious shortage of Moroccan personnel on its side of the Ceuta frontier. Rabat did something like this in 2021 during another diplomatic row. Belarus, Libya and Turkey have weaponised migrant flows against the EU several times before and the bloc has usually responded in unison for good reason."}],[{"start":188.32,"text":"The EU needs the co-operation of its neighbours to control migrant flows. It cannot escape its geography. That means it must unite and use its collective leverage, whether on visa rules or investment flows, to ensure the co-operation is given. The reaction of Meloni and others will only encourage other countries to weaponise immigration in similar ways."}],[{"start":210.06,"text":"The Ceuta crisis shows how far the EU — the Brussels institutions and the national capitals — have shifted to the right on immigration in recent years. With far-right forces threatening incumbents in several member states holding elections in the next 12 months, the temptation to find scapegoats will grow. The EU will be worse off for it."}],[{"start":233.68,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785980373_7695.mp3"}