The Europeanization of national borders Cooperation between the European Union and Spain on border management Table of Contents List of illustrations ii Selected Abbreviations iii Introduction 1 Chapter 1. The Process of Europeanization 1.1 Europeanization 4 1.2 The Schengen Agreement 7 1.3 The European Neighbourhood Policy 11 Chapter 2. Border Management in Spain 2.1 The development of migration policies and border management in Spain 17 2.2 Contemporary border management and migration policies in Spain 20 2.3 The special position of Ceuta and Melilla 26 Chapter 3. The implementation of border management at the external border in Spain 3.1 Border management in the Mediterranean 32 3.2 Frontex 35 3.3 Ceuta and the role of Spanish authorities 42 3.4 Cooperation 53 Conclusion 57 Bibliography 60 List of interviews 72 i List of illustrations 1. Frontex Missions 40 2. Critical graffiti in the streets of Ceuta 43 3. El Tarajal from the beach in Ceuta next to the fences 45 4. Women waiting to cross the border at el Tarajal, Ceuta 45 5. European sign entering Ceuta at el Tarajal 46 6. Fences between Ceuta and Morocco, Spanish side 46 7. Fences between Ceuta and Morocco, Spanish side 47 8. Fences between Ceuta and Morocco, Spanish side 48 9. Fences between Ceuta and Morocco, Spanish side 48 10. CETI Ceuta 50 11. CETI Ceuta 51 12. CETI Ceuta 51 13. The beach of Benzú, Ceuta 52 14. El Tarajal. The end of the fences between Ceuta and Morocco 55 ii Selected Abbreviations AP Action Plan BM Border Management CAR Centro de Acogida a Refugiados, Centre for helping refugees CEAR Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado, a Spanish refugee assistance organisation CETI Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigracion, the temporary reception centre for immigrants in Ceuta and Melilla CIE Centro de Internamiento de extranjeros, foreigners’ detention centre CIRAM Common Integrated Risk Analysis Model CRVM Centro Regional de Vigilancia Marítima del Estrecho EBGT European Border Guard Team EC European Commission ENP European Neighbourhood Policy EP European Parliament ESDP European Security and Defence Policy EU European Union EUROMED Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Frontex European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union IBM Integrated Border Management ICC International Coordination Centre ILO Immigration Liaison Officer IOM International Organisation for Migration JHA Justice and Home Affairs, third pillar in the pillar structure of the European Union NCC National Coordination Centre NGO Non-Governmental Organization RABIT Rapid Border Intervention Teams SALVAMAR Salvamento Marítimo, the Spanish maritime rescue service SCIFA Strategic Committee for Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum SIS Schengen Information System iii SIVE Sistema Integrado de Vigilancia Exterior, the Spanish integrated system for external surveillance of the coastlines and seas UfM Union for the Mediterranean VIS Visa Information System iv Introduction Ceuta, Thursday 14 May 2015. “It has been a while since so many migrants were found in a ‘patera’1 having problems at sea”, a woman told me that morning in the ‘centro de estancia temporal de inmigrantes’ (CETI). In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, a cargo-vessel detected 51 migrants including seven women, two of whom were pregnant. They were navigating on their own intuition, 51 miles off the coast, without any technological tools such as GPS. After contact with the ‘Servicio Marítimo’, the agency sent its vessel ‘Atria’ to rescue the migrants and brought them to the harbour in Ceuta. According to the Spanish authorities, “if they were not localized that night and would have stayed one day more at sea, the worst would have happened to them”. The good weather conditions helped the migrants, giving them time to get closer to the shore. Exhausted and with signs of hypothermia, the 51 Sub- Saharans stepped ashore in the harbour. A team of the Red Cross Ceuta received the migrants with three ambulances, a rescue vehicle and more than twenty professionals from a medical emergency team who handed over clothes, blankets and shoes. Furthermore, because of the number of arrivals, a special temporary medical centre was created to facilitate direct medical care. The same morning, another dramatic rescue happened at the coast of Ceuta, in the zone of Beliones-Benzú, in which police officers from Morocco with the assistance of the Spanish Guardia Civil participated. Several Sub-Saharans tried to reach the coast of Ceuta by embarking a leaking raft to sail around the rocks at the end of the fences between Morocco and Ceuta. One of the migrants, exhausted and desperate to reach the Spanish coast jumped into the sea, but started drowning close to the rocks. An officer from the Guardia Civil reacted immediately by jumping into the water to save the man. Once in the boat, the migrant was unconscious and was brought to the hospital where he recovered. All the migrants rescued that day were assisted by the National Police Corps in obtaining a card to enter the CETI. That morning in the CETI an employee explained it was a particular day, with many migrants arriving the same time. Special services were required to receive all the migrants. The other migrants staying at the centre were helping, carrying mattress to prepare the rooms. All was being done to receive the new arrivals to the CETI as 1 Patera and cayuco are Spanish names for boats which are used by migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach the European coast. 1 well as possible. (Echarri, 2015; Efe, 2015 b; Sanchez, interview May 2015; Bejarano Ramírez, interview May 2015). The way the countless migrants, such as the ones described above, who struggle to cross the sea and attempting to climb the fences between Ceuta and Morocco, shed a light on only a small part of clandestine migration routes in the Mediterranean. Over the past decades, the European Union (EU) has created a variety of border management (BM) policies in order to protect the external borders from irregular migration. The role of European BM has in turn, fundamentally influenced national border policies. Spain, a country with important external borders due to its geographical position on the Mediterranean shores, and the two enclaves in the north of Morocco called Ceuta and Melilla is a prime example of this dynamic. This thesis will look to some of the ways in which the implementation of European policies into national border controls affects and transforms these latter, looking specifically at how Spanish border management has been affected and transformed by EU border policies. Much has been written about clandestine migration at the EU’s external borders. Authorities, journalists, academics and politicians have all engaged with this topic. This thesis takes a different approach looking at migration and border policies. It casts an eye on the relation between irregular migration and the interplay between EU and Spanish border policies ‘on the ground’, and will attempt to illustrate the relation between these two levels of governance in practice. Irregular migration is closely related to BM, for it is primarily clandestine migration that spurs the evolution of the field of BM, pushing a reorganization of border controls. The position of the border between the EU and Third Countries is crucial for the entrance of migrants who are looking for better opportunities within the European space. The border of Ceuta illustrates this aspect of clandestine migration in relation to BM perfectly, and will thus be chosen as an example of the process of Europeanization of national borders. The analysis presented here draws upon on-site interviews with border guards, police officers, volunteers, attorneys and local political figures, queried about the situation in Ceuta, the Mediterranean and missions in the African waters. I was also fortunate enough to be able to conduct a field visit to Ceuta, Algeciras and Málaga, the customs office in Ceuta, the fences, the harbour and the temporal emergency centre for migrants (CETI). Moreover, past personal experiences (with migrants) while living in Spain and the language I speak fluently, inspired and facilitated the author’s research about the policies and outcomes of BM in the EU and Spain. 2 In order to begin to analyse the influence of wider European policies on Spanish border policies, the process of Europeanization will first be conceptualized. Europeanization refers broadly to the process through which the EU affects and transforms national policy. This process also takes place in the field of BM. The first chapter will thus outline the notion of Europeanization, followed by a summary of the most important programs and policies that the EU has established in the realm of BM, in relation to migration. This will be completed with an explanation of the specific role of Spain within European policy. The second chapter will proceed to outline the role of Spain and the development of Spanish BM and migration policies. Moreover, Spanish BM policies will be further clarified, starting from the adhesion of Spain to the European Community in 1986, which brought crucial changes in the country’s domestic policies. As in chapter one, chapter two will also highlight the most important notions of national BM in relation to migration. The third chapter will summarize how European and Spanish BM are translated ‘on the ground’ into actual border policies practices of border control. Data collected during field work in Spain, including interviews with those working on the borders and authorities involved with BM will be used to examine how BM functions in the field, while also highlighting the practicalities of EU and Spanish cooperation. Taken together, these three chapters will serve to illustrate how Spanish national border policies have been profoundly affected and transformed (“Europeanized”) by European BM.