Von der Leyen, to Sánchez's rescue

In the new European migratory crisis due to the serious and dramatic events in Ceuta, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has finally come to the rescue of Pedro Sánchez, who, under the leadership of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, the far-right and right-wing Europe has sought to position as a danger to the common border-closing migratory policy and, therefore, to the security of the Schengen area. The images and figures of arrivals on the first day impacted public opinion and continental chanceries, and gave rise to positioning the Spanish government in a supposed position of tolerance with illegal immigration, adding to the critical package the recent regularization, to which a supposed "pull effect" was quickly attributed. This Monday, the Spanish PP was still insisting on it.

To counteract the situation, Sánchez's bet, beyond initially denouncing that they were leaving him alone, was to activate a rapid, forceful and tough response with the army and to expel in a single day the bulk of the more than 50,000 migrants, the vast majority Moroccans, who arrived by sea and land. In this way, the Spanish president has finally obtained Von der Leyen's endorsement, thanks to which it will be easier for him to appease criticism and isolation at the meeting of Interior Ministers this Tuesday. Grande-Marlaska will be able to present himself (remotely) having done his homework.

For Von der Leyen, support for Sánchez serves to downplay that Ceuta has once again highlighted the internal community disunity on the migratory issue, one of the real critical points of a European Union that fails to speak with a single voice. For Sánchez, the conservative president's helping hand, although late, guarantees he will not be left alone and will refocus ideologically on a terrain where incendiary demagoguery is very easy. Despite the words of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, overall Madrid and Brussels – and Von der Leyen's letter reinforces this – have also converged in not delving into the Morocco's culpability, with whom they will have to continue preferential dealings, not only on the migratory issue. Nobody wants a crisis with Rabat.

In any case, Von der Leyen's emphasis has certainly been on border security, on preventing irregular immigrants, on returns and on human trafficking networks. Neither she nor almost anyone in Europe has made almost any mention of the terrible humanitarian drama, with nearly a hundred drowned dead and a thousand minors poorly cared for in Ceuta, where reception capacity is notoriously insufficient. Is the European solidarity that the European president calls for only in terms of security?

Everything indicates that Sánchez and Von der Leyen will go on vacation with this new migratory crisis abated, but the problem is far from being resolved, both in Ceuta and in the rest of the hot spots of arrivals. The outsourcing of border control, with the implementation of the Meloni formula of detention centers in third countries, does not work. An outbreak like the one in Ceuta is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg.