The Petitions Committee of the European Parliament (PETI) will send a mission to the Canary Islands in the second half of this year to observe firsthand the impact of migratory pressure and the difficulties faced by authorities in managing the reception of the thousands of people who have arrived irregularly in the archipelago.
Already in the previous semester, there was an agreement among the coordinators of the parliamentary committee to assign a mission to the Canary Islands in the second semester of the year, but the trip of the Members of the European Parliament has not been formally confirmed until now in March.
Parliamentary sources consulted by Europa Press suggest that the trip could take place in September, but both the schedule and the composition of the mission will be defined later.
The mission was proposed by the European People’s Party (PPE) group in the framework of a request registered by the European parliamentary committee on the «need for joint action by the EU» in the face of strong migratory pressure, although this request refers to the situation in the Mediterranean Sea and does not explicitly mention the Canary Islands.
In any case, this mission will be the second one planned by the European Parliament for 2025 due to the migratory crisis in the Canary Islands, as the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) also planned a visit by Members of the European Parliament for this first semester, initially scheduled for the end of May.
Therefore, Alma Ezcurra, MEP from the People’s Party, a member of the Petitions Committee, stated in a press release that her group is determined to «leave no stone unturned in the EU so that (Prime Minister Pedro) Sánchez assumes his responsibility and acts.»
«No leader can hide while the Canary Islands overflow,» warned Ezcurra, who accused the Spanish government of remaining «with arms crossed» in the face of the migratory crisis. «Their inaction is turning the islands into the main gateway for irregular immigration to Europe while rejecting community aid and leaving the southern flank to its own devices.»
According to data provided by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) at the beginning of the year, the number of irregular arrivals to the Canary Islands increased by 18% during 2024 – with almost 47,000 migrants – marking the highest figure for the Canary Islands since the European agency began keeping records in 2009.