The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, responded this Thursday to the request of the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, to hold a meeting on the islands to address the migration emergency. Von der Leyen, who is in the process of setting up the European Commission, thanked President Clavijo "for raising the critical issue of the increase in the arrival of migrants, particularly unaccompanied minors, via the Atlantic Route to the Canary Islands."
The president of the EC conveyed her inability to travel to the archipelago, but informed that the current vice president of the Commission, Margaritis Schinas, will travel to the islands next week - specifically on Wednesday - in her place, in order to analyze in a meeting with the president, Fernando Clavijo, the impact of migration pressure in the Canary Islands, which is facing the care of more than 5,500 minors alone.
Von der Leyen stressed in her letter that "migration is a European challenge that requires a European solution. We are fully aware of your situation and are committed to continuing to provide the Canary Islands with the necessary support."
The head of the European Commission hopes that the visit "will provide an opportunity to discuss ways in which the European Union can continue to support the Canary Islands financially and operationally", as well as fostering "greater engagement" with countries of origin and transit.
The European Commission is thus responding to the diplomatic offensive launched by the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, in the face of the lack of migration management by the Government of Spain before the community institutions to deal with the humanitarian drama in the archipelago.
The response from the president of the European Commission comes two weeks after the request that Fernando Clavijo sent to Ursula von der Leyen to learn first-hand about the migration drama on the islands after the migration rebound registered during the month of August and the saturation situation of the reception system for minors. It was the second time that President Clavijo addressed the highest head of the EC with this request, the first coinciding with the transfer of the European official to Lampedusa in 2023.
European strategy
The request to the European Commission is part of the European strategy initiated by the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, who eight days ago also sent the official request to the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, to appear before the MEPs, expose the "limit" situation that the islands are experiencing and demand support measures from the European Union (EU) in the face of the migration emergency on Europe's southern border.
President Clavijo asked President Metsola to be able to appear in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) or in the committee of the European Parliament that she deemed appropriate.
He thus continued with a diplomatic offensive to draw the attention of the European institutions and demand responses to the "unsustainable" situation that is being experienced in the archipelago, turning it into a "structural" problem.
This was added to the request to the European Commission responded to this Thursday by President von der Leyen, as well as the request to Pope Francis during the meeting they held on January 15 in Rome to learn first-hand about the humanitarian drama on the islands, as well as the request last year to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, who finally moved to the Canary Islands a month later.
The agenda of President Clavijo with the European institutions and organizations includes the meeting he held in April in Brussels with the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the round of meetings he had with the majority parliamentary groups in the European Parliament in November of last year to ensure that the Atlantic Route received similar treatment to the Mediterranean in the European Pact on Migration and Asylum approved last April.
