Will Morocco accept having migrant detention facilities on its territory ?

The Council of Europe has brought back a project for setting up migrant detention facilities in North Africa. Germany, and Italy joined recently by Hungary had defended the proposal but failed to convince other European Union countries to adopt the proposal.

Currently, and thanks to geopolitical factors, the project is being brought to the table, especially as Italy, is tired of abiding with the Dublin III Regulation, adopted in 2013. The latter is a European Union law that determines the EU Member State responsible for examining an application for asylum seekers seeking international protection under the Geneva Convention and  and the EU Qualification Directive, within the European Union.

Generally, EU countries affected by migration flows are Italy, Malta, Greece and Spain.

To show his disagreement with the EU law, the new Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini boycotted, on June the 5th, a meeting held by his European counterparts to discuss the issue.

«Morocco is not concerned by the EU Council’s proposal»

The Italian government’s anger has forced the President of the Council of Europe, Donald Tusk, to amend the old proposal. The latter will be discussed during the European Union’s summit, scheduled for the 28th and 29th of June in Brussels.

Supported by the EU, Donald Tusk relies on the United Nations (UN) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to manage the migrant detention facilities in North Africa. Through this strategy, Tusk will be able to kill two birds with one stone : circumventing the Dublin III Regulation and calming Italians down.

Reacting to the proposal, a diplomatic source told Yabiladi on Friday that «Morocco is not concerned by the measure». «In the past, the Kingdom had the opportunity to reject deported sub-Saharans believed to have crossed the sea via its territory. Since then, our position has not changed», said the same source.

For the record, King Mohammed VI delivered a speech at the EU-AU summit, held last November in Abidjan, referring to the «unfounded claims» spread in Europe on migrants and Africa.