The European Conservatives and Reformists Group has called for stronger protection of Europe’s external borders following the recent mass illegal crossings into Ceuta, warning that migration must never be allowed to become a tool of pressure against the European Union.

The ECR Group secured Tuesday’s plenary debate in Strasbourg on the crisis and the instrumentalisation of migrants, with Parliament set to vote on a resolution on Thursday. ECR MEPs called for a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the events in Ceuta, stronger support for frontline Member States and effective returns of those who have no right to remain.

Spanish ECR MEP Diego Solier said people in Ceuta felt abandoned and called for greater support for the authorities and better enforcement of existing migration rules.

“Abandonment, that is what the people of Ceuta feel. [...] We must defend our borders in the South. We must have border controls for those who entered illegally. We need funding for state authorities and protection for those who genuinely deserve and need it. And for those who don’t, they need to be returned in line with legislation and rules,” Solier said.

He also called for greater investment in Ceuta and Melilla.

“We need to strengthen the people of Ceuta, give them real opportunities, make those areas poles for investments because Ceuta and Melilla are Spain and are not for sale,” Solier added.

ECR Coordinator in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Assita Kanko said the handling of the crisis had become a test of the EU’s political credibility.

“We are standing at a crossroads, the credibility of politics and of the EU are very much at stake. We need to ask ourselves, what does the EU stand for? To what extent are we solving problems? The voter wants politicians to solve the problem of migrants because it does make our life more complicated, so we need to see that this is tackled with actions in the field,” Kanko said.

Kanko said the deaths and mass crossings demonstrated the consequences of failing to act.

“140 people died and thousands of people entered. What happened in Ceuta was not human tragedy alone, it was a political failure. [...] Let’s give a clear signal to citizens and let us be courageous enough to defend our own principles instead of holding democracy hostage,” she said.

Spanish ECR MEP Nora Junco warned that the situation in Ceuta risked becoming permanent and urged European institutions to see the situation on the ground for themselves.

“We have beaches that have been occupied with makeshift tents. This is the reality that the Spanish government is seeking for Ceuta. This situation should never have happened, and this is all happening in the European Union. What is extraordinary is that this is becoming a permanent state. This is called colonisation. I don’t want to get used to this,” Junco said.

“Go to Ceuta and see what is happening there. We are seeing the collapse of a city, and this reflects the project of the European Union. The people of Ceuta see that nobody is defending them,” she added.

The ECR Group warned that migration policies which offer the prospect of legal status following illegal entry risk creating further pull factors. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s policy of mass regularisation, ECR MEPs argued, has helped create the expectation that entering Europe illegally may ultimately be rewarded with legal residence.