EC keeps Morocco migration funding on course

The European Commission has reaffirmed Morocco’s role as a strategic partner on migration and confirmed that European Union money for Moroccan border work will keep flowing until 2027, despite the mass crossing into Ceuta on July 30.

Commission spokesman for home affairs and migration Markus Lammert told the institution’s daily briefing on September 3 that Morocco mattered above all in the fight against migrant smuggling and illegal migration. He said cooperation with Rabat had increased in recent years.

Asked whether Brussels would reconsider the relationship after reports on how Morocco handled the crisis, Lammert said the Commission welcomed the close cooperation between Madrid and Rabat in managing the situation and returning those with no right to remain.

A Commission financing annex for African countries sets out a further €160 million in budget support for Morocco’s national strategy on immigration and asylum running to 2027, according to Spanish outlet Público.

That sum sits inside a wider envelope. A Commission spokesperson told Euronews in August that €222 million had already been committed between 2021 and 2024, alongside “an additional €190 million until the end of this budget cycle”.

Brussels has put its indicative migration package for Morocco at €500 million for the 2021-2027 period.

The money has not held the numbers down. Irregular arrivals in Ceuta rose from 753 in 2021 to 3,523 in 2025, according to Spanish interior ministry data reported by Público.

That ministry put at some 72,000 the number of people who entered the enclave on July 30 and 31, the largest influx recorded at the EU’s only land border with Africa. At least 75 died, most of them drowning near the Tarajal breakwater, and about 70,000 were sent back within days.

On Madrid’s own request for emergency funding, submitted the previous week, Lammert said the assessment was being handled as a priority. He added that important questions remained for the Spanish authorities to resolve first, whether financial or operational.

The Commission had already signalled it was weighing extra support for Spain in early August. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, keeps a contingent at the port of Ceuta and the Commission is examining where else it might be stationed.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered Rabat more EU support days after the breach, avoiding public criticism of the kingdom. Brussels said it wanted to conclude a strategic and comprehensive partnership with Morocco before the end of the year.