Spain and the European Border Protection Agency (Frontex) have finally agreed to resume their joint operations against irregular immigration. The activity of the agency, which has ships and aircraft as well as 300 agents stationed in Spain, will resume this Monday evening after being suspended for five days. Both parties had until last Tuesday to approve the 2024 operating framework, but were unable to reach an agreement. The decisive factor was the Spanish authorities' resistance to “losing ownership and responsibility” for personal data obtained from immigrants, Interior Ministry sources said. Without an agreement, there was no legal basis to act and the entire activity of the agency was paralyzed, as EL PAÍS announced last Thursday. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska assured the same day that it was a technical problem and that it would be resolved “within hours instead of days.” Finally, a signature was obtained, in extremis, in a “simplified and urgent” procedure and almost five days later. The final agreement contains an interim solution to satisfy both parties, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, and grants Spain full control over certain more sensitive information. “We value our partnership and look forward to another year of joint efforts in border management,” an agency spokesperson told EL PAÍS.
It is not that uncommon for some power disputes to arise between authorities and the agency, but the lack of understanding in these negotiations resulted in an unprecedented situation. Not only was Spain the only EU country that had still not signed its 2024 operational plan, but all Frontex operations in the Mediterranean, the Alborán Sea and the Canary Islands were also suspended overnight. With the positions blocked, the agency gave itself a week to agree on the plan or assured that all resources deployed in Spain would be withdrawn. Among other things, because their presence here costs thousands of euros every day, even though they are unemployed, as they are these days. In addition to the costs of planes and boats financed by the agency, Frontex agents charge meal allowances of up to 120 euros per day and up to 175 euros for hotel accommodation, depending on the country of origin. During the period in which cooperation was paralyzed, more than 2,500 people came to Spain irregularly.
A source familiar with the negotiations claims it was “obvious” that an agreement had to be reached. “There are too many interests at stake – including economic ones – but after a year of negotiating plans for the following year, this delay is not understood,” he complains. Operation Indalo alone, taking place in the Mediterranean and the Alboran Sea, represents an investment of around 63 million euros financed by the European Union. But there was also a reputational problem: Spain would be the only Community country in the midst of a surge in new arrivals cannot reach an agreement with an important EU agency. On the other hand, the agency is still facing a serious image crisis due to its internal management and its collaboration with illegal migrant returns in the Aegean.
In fact, every year the Ministry of the Interior and Frontex negotiate the operational plan that defines the three operations that the agency carries out in Spain (Peninsula and Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and Strait Crossing). This plan regulates all the small print of the joint activities and covers everything from the tasks of the officials to the objectives of the operations to the means or financing used. However, the obstacle in this episode was the use of data on immigrants entering the territory irregularly. “Spain has expressed from the outset that it does not want to lose ownership or responsibility for personal data obtained in joint operations in Spain, a position it will continue to defend,” Interior Ministry sources claimed last week.
Frontex agents identify a rescued migrant in the port of Algeciras on March 5, 2023. A. Carrasco Ragel (EFE)
When a boat arrives, the state police and also Frontex question its occupants. In addition to their personal information, they will be asked about the route they took and the procedure of who got them there. The way in which this information is obtained has been questioned by the Ombudsman, but both the Spanish authorities and the agency have defended that it is crucial for understanding migration flows, developing a risk analysis and, in the best case, for the dismantling of the networks that enable illegal migration. The operational plan determines who has control over this data and how it will be used, and Spain has fought to maintain maximum control over this information. There are data that are more sensitive than others. The information obtained in a simple interview with a newly arrived immigrant is not the same as the information obtained from someone who has evidence of having committed a transnational crime, such as human trafficking. Spain retains this final information and decides with whom it shares it. The most basic information is processed and controlled by both, according to sources familiar with the negotiation.
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It is not clear why the General Directorate of International Relations, which led the negotiations for the first time (previously they were led by the National Police and the Civil Guard), decided to argue over this issue. Internal sources explained that the agency changed its data protection regulations on January 18 and that this change changed the negotiations as they had to be adapted to Spanish regulations, but other sources consulted did not see the conflict. “The proposal that Frontex put on the table hardly reflected on paper what was already being done on the ground,” explains one of them.
“Information is power,” explains Gil Arias, who was the agency’s executive director from 2006 to 2016. During his term, Arias experienced and suffered several battles between Frontex and Spain. To understand the balance of power between each other, we must look not only at the agency, but also consider the disputes between the police and the Guardia Civil over the control of information and powers. At that time, there was also the threat of Frontex's activities being suspended, albeit selectively and only in Operation Strait Crossing, which is used every summer when thousands of Moroccans return to their country for vacation. The reason at the time was a dispute between the police and civil defense over who led the dog teams. The last conflict over operational plans occurred in 2021, when the agency also threatened to leave Spain due to the lack of agreement. Eventually, as on this occasion, the authorities were mobilized to prevent this.
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