Sign migration deal

EU and Spain head to Mauritania to sign migration deal

Spanish officials report a surge in irregular arrivals from West Africa.

BY SEJLA AHMATOVIC

The president of the European Commission and Spain’s prime minister visited Mauritania on Thursday to talk migration and energy with leaders from the African nation.

Ursula von der Leyen and Pedro Sánchez were meeting President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani in the capital Nouakchott to discuss curbing irregular migration to Europe amid a migration surge from West Africa.

“We are here to step up the EU-Mauritania partnership,” von der Leyen wrote on X on Thursday. “And further cooperation on regional security and migration.”

Mauritania’s strategic importance is growing amid an increase in migration. The country, along with its neighbor Senegal, is a major departure point for those seeking to get to Europe.

In January, some 7,720 people crossed the Atlantic by boat to reach the Canary Islands, an increase of more than 1,000 percent compared to January 2023, according to data from the Spanish interior ministry. More than 80 percent of the boats making it to Spain departed from Mauritania, say Spanish officials.

The EU is preparing €200 million in aid to help Nouakchott control the boats leaving its shores and manage the hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees living in the country, El Pais reported on Monday.

Later Thursday, the EU will discuss and vote on tightening migration rules for the bloc.

Mauritania, along with Morocco, was implicated in the Qatargate scandal, with those countries allegedly handing out thousands of illicit euros in the EU bubble.