The Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union has called for an extraordinary session of the Integrated Political Crisis Response Mechanism (IPCR, for its acronym in English) to be held this Saturday in order to address the migration situation in Ceuta, following a round of contacts held in the last 24 hours with the member states and the main community institutions.
A spokesperson for the Irish Government has indicated that the Minister of Justice, Interior and Migration, Jim O'Callaghan, held a conversation this Friday with his Spanish counterpart, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to express his "solidarity" with Spain's and the European Union's efforts in light of the increase in arrivals from Morocco.
As he explained, the IPCR meeting, operational to address migration issues since 2015, will serve for specialists from the member states to examine the evolution of the crisis in Ceuta over the last two days, the volume of people returned to Moroccan territory, the support that the Union is offering to Spain, and the state of diplomatic efforts with the Moroccan authorities.
In addition, the rotating Presidency has informed that next Monday there will be a meeting of the ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven before the EU with the purpose of assessing the development of the crisis and reinforcing coordination among the member states.
"It has been confirmed that more than 37,500 people have already voluntarily returned to Morocco and that there are no subsequent movements from Ceuta to the European continent or to other member states," the spokesperson noted, who also lamented that "many people" have died while trying to reach the autonomous city.
Finally, he indicated that Ireland will continue to follow the situation "closely" and will remain in "close contact" with all member states.