Mariano Rajoy

Spain was deeply involved and proactive in EU migration policy from the beginning .It is argued that the EU-Turkey deal contributed to closing the land routes, forcing refugees to risk their lives on the Mediterranean Sea. Mariano Rajoy, Spanish acting PM at the time, was found very active in concluding the deal. Indeed, although his own Congress was opposed, he did not hesitate to refuse to appear before Spanish representatives, to explain the deal and negotiate a common Spanish position on the subject. Except for his own Popular Party, all other congressional groups – 227 deputies out of a total of 350 – radically rejected the agreement. (See Spain, “General Overview”).The heads of state and government of France, Germany, Spain (Mariano), and Italy welcomed “the efforts made by the Libyan national government to control its territorial waters […] [and] recognize[d] that it is important to adequately equip and train Libyan coast guards, with an emphasis on the protection of human rights”on 28 August 2017. (See Spain, “Operation Sophia”).

Mariano Rajoy, leader of the conservative People's Party, has been Prime Minister from December 2011 to June 2018. On 28 August 2017, Mariano Rajoy and his French and German counterparts welcome: “the measures taken by Italy […] (in particular) the code of conduct for rescue operations at sea which constitutes a beneficial advance allowing to improve the coordination and the efficiency of the rescues. The heads of state and government call on all NGOs operating in the area to sign and comply with the code of conduct.” Spain itself also actively prevented NGOs from operating search and rescue in the Central Mediterranean by denying clearance to vessels leaving its ports. (See Spain, “NGO Criminalization”).

In early February 2017, the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya was signed, after which Italy provided technical and technological support to the Libyan police and coastguard.  A second conference in Malta was convened a day after at which the Malta Declaration was adopted.  All members of the European Council attended, Mariano Rajoy included.  (See Council of Europe, “2017 – The Libyan coastguards”).