The migration crises between Greece and Turkey (2020), between Poland and Belarus (2021), between Tunisia and Italy (2023), and between Morocco and Spain (2026) explain how, in terms of those who migrate, all respond to similar patterns. The use of the immigrant as a political weapon, overcrowding in unsanitary areas, distribution in saturated temporary centres, the wait to resolve an asylum or return application, the lack of protection for minors. The EU's containment response. And back to square one.
Between February and March 2020, Turkey opened its border with Greece to Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi migrants. “Europe had not fulfilled its commitments,” said Erdogan. According to Greece, nearly 3,000 people entered, but at the border, between 13,000 and 20,000 gathered. Most were turned back immediately. Those who managed to stay were taken to a reception centre with a capacity for 240 people, which was completely overwhelmed, and from there to camps where they waited months or years for asylum. The crisis subsided with the pandemic.
In 2021, Belarus, after EU sanctions, facilitated visas and flights for thousands of Iraqi Kurds, Syrians, and Afghans, and pushed them towards Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. In 6 weeks, Lithuania alone went from 81 crossings a year to over 4,000. Most were trapped for weeks in improvised camps in the forest in sub-zero temperatures until they were repatriated, or confined in centres while their asylum applications were processed. The crisis ended with the construction of the border fence with Belarus.
In 2023, the story repeated itself on the island of Lampedusa. Tunisia allowed, according to Italian authorities, around 10,000 people to arrive in three days. The reception centre, with a capacity for 400 people, reached 6,000-7,000. Germany temporarily suspended the voluntary reception of applicants from Italy, and the EU's voluntary solidarity mechanism hardly functioned.
And in this eternal return, July 2026 arrives. An unparalleled case. Ceuta receives between 70,000 and 80,000 people from Morocco in two days, according to the Interior Ministry. The vast majority returned to Morocco in the following days and weeks, over 88,000, according to the Civil Guard. While someone explains this distortion of figures and the justice system investigates what exactly happened, more than 10,000 immigrants slept for weeks in settlements on the city's beaches, and are now in reception centres in the phase of determining what to do with them.
