EASO launches a new operation to assist asylum seekers' reception in Spain

The Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), Nina Gregori, and EASO's State Secretary for Migration, Hana Jalloul Muro, have signed an Operating Plan for 2021, which aims to support the reception authorities in Spain.

The proposal follows a Joint Rapid Needs Assessment (JRNA) undertaken by EASO and the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration of Spain between September and the end of October, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.

Commenting on the operation, Executive Director Gregori stressed that she was so proud that EASO offered "t angible support to the asylum and reception capacity of frontline Member States."

Gregori pointed out, "EASO will immediately begin working to implement the Operating Plan and assist our colleagues in Spain."

The Agency will also send additional staff to Spain upon the creation of a new team at EASO Headquarters in Malta.

The office will, according to EASO's announcement,:

• Assist in the change to the new model of the country for the reception of asylum seekers

• Increasing structural processes to sustain the reception system in Spain

• Strengthen the reception system capability of Spain through professional growth, as well as instruments and materials

• Increasing the potential for reception services in the Canary Islands

• Help the Spanish Resettlement Area Authorities

The operation in Spain is EASO's fifth ongoing operation, after those in Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Malta. The Department has nearly 2,000 workers working in these regions, although it also states that "it has more than doubled its operational productivity by 2020." ”

Statistics released by the European Union Security Border Agency in November showed that the number of migrants in Spain rose this year after more than 17,000 migrants arrived illegally in the Canary Islands.

Frontex also announced that it was only in October that over 5,300 migrants illegally tried to enter Europe via the Canary Islands. The situation has forced the authorities in Spain to impose new preventive measures to help solve the problem.

The Spanish authorities announced in November that they were about to set up camps for more than 7,000 migrants in order to handle the rising number of migrants in the Canary Islands.