Jorge Fernández Díaz expresses Spain's willingness to work on avoiding illegal migratory flows and people trafficking

On the first day of the meeting, the G6 Home Affairs Ministers discussed the issues of illegal immigration, cooperation with non-EU countries on migration policies and refugees, and the organised crime networks operating in the European Union.

As regards immigration, Jorge Fernández Díaz told his European G6 partners that the migratory pressure in the Mediterranean is currently one of the main challenges being faced by the European Union. In his speech, Jorge Fernández Díaz expressed solidarity with Italy - a country that received 170,000 illegal immigrants by sea in 2014 and over 26,000 in the first four months of 2015.

Jorge Fernández Díaz called for the design of a structured migration strategy, a truly common migration policy for the European Union that is properly financed and implemented with specific measures and programmes. The Spanish Home Affairs Minister insisted that the Mediterranean countries "are facing migratory pressure from hundreds of thousands, even millions, of displaced citizens from Syria, Iraq and other countries" and recalled the words spoken by the French Home Affairs Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, at the G6 Meeting in Barcelona in June 2014, where he stressed that the current migration phenomenon far exceeds our capacity to receive the number of people arriving.

The Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Díaz, recalled that Spain's position for combating illegal immigration is based on four key issues: prevention at source; operational cooperation with the non-EU countries of origin and transit; the fight against the criminal networks engaged in the trafficking of immigrants; and improved management of EU borders and those of the non-EU countries involved. He also highlighted the importance of a truly effective and common EU return and readmission policy.

Jorge Fernández Díaz told his G6 colleagues that the situation in Libya is currently very unstable and there are no interlocutors with whom to work. However, he suggested that, for as long as this situation persists, "we should not stop acting with other stable and organised States neighbouring Libya, such as Tunisia, Egypt, Niger and Chad, or the others used by people travelling to the Libyan coast in order to reach Europe".

In this regard, Jorge Fernández Díaz highlighted the importance of expanding "our actions" to all African countries "as they are key to avoiding the departure of boats heading for Europe". He went on to add that "Spain's experience in this regard and the excellent collaboration with Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, among other countries, reveals this to be the case every day".

The Spanish Home Affairs Minister highlighted two proposals in this regard presented by Spain to the Rabat Process Steering Committee: the project to create a Joint Investigation Team with Niger on people trafficking networks; and the Blue Sahel project on border surveillance that would benefit various countries in this region of Africa.

Jorge Fernández Díaz recalled that solidarity between Member States should consider the effort being made by each one in terms of migration and international protection efforts. Furthermore, he said that the Member States on the front line, such as Spain and Italy, are being forced to make significant efforts to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants, look after those who arrive and respond to asylum applications, while ensuring they fulfil their duty to protect the external borders of the European Union.

Finally Jorge Fernández Díaz stressed that Spain hopes the European Migration Agency and the EU Action Plan against People Trafficking not only consider asylum and legal migration but also the need to combat people trafficking and strengthen border controls. He once again repeated Spain's willingness to work on avoiding illegal migratory flows, people trafficking and the human tragedies caused by illegal immigration networks.

The fight against organised crime

The Spanish Home Affairs Minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, said that organised crime has become a serious threat to "our security, our societies and our economies". To that end, the Spanish minister stressed that "the fight against this security challenge has become a national priority that is reflected in the National Security Strategy approved in 2013".

Jorge Fernández Díaz said that, with this in mind, the Spanish State law enforcement agencies have implemented various operational plans, such as the Plan to Combat Roaming Crime, the Operational Plan against Theft in the Home, the Plan for a Police Response to the Theft of Copper Cable and the Plan to combat Theft from Crop and Livestock Farming Operations with the deployment of new ROCA Teams (Teams to Combat Theft in the Rural Environment).

However, and despite all the efforts and positive results obtained from these specific programmes, Jorge Fernández Díaz recognised that the cross-border nature of organised crime is a global threat and the instruments used to combat the phenomenon should be extended not only nationally and bilaterally but also internationally. In this regard, he said that further efforts should be made to exchange information between Member States of the European Union and strengthen ties with non-EU countries "in order to build a culture of cooperation capable of preventing the establishment of such organisations in our countries".

Furthermore, Jorge Fernández Díaz underlined the crucial role played by the European agencies in supporting operational cooperation, such as EUROPOL and EUROJUST, and highlighted the positive results being obtained from the joint operations and joint investigation teams in which Spain is involved.

Similarly, Jorge Fernández Díaz highlighted the commitment made by Spain in terms of combating organised crime by collaborating on the joint operations entitled Arquimedes and Itacar, and announced Spain's participation in Operation Luxcar, which is due to begin in early autumn. Furthermore, Jorge Fernández Díaz said that Spain views the taking of action against organised crime as a priority, both at a national level and within the European Union, as well as with non-EU countries.