Spanish Court Rejects NGO Challenge to Morocco Migration Aid

The request filed by Andalucia Acoge, in charge of the integration and monitoring of migrants, and Access Info Europe, which is dedicated to the "defense and promotion of the right to information", as well as an individual, in his capacity as a taxpayer, was indeed rejected by the Spanish Supreme Court. For this high court, the two NGOs do not have any right to claim, through legal channels, "the cancellation of the agreement signed on July 19, 2019 by the Council of Ministers, under which a direct aid of 30 million euros" was granted to Morocco for the migration fight.

If the plaintiffs believe that this is an "inadequate" use of this funding line, "it is not proven that the cancellation of this fund could imply an advantage or a benefit for the plaintiffs," the judge said. It should be noted that the arrival of migrants constitutes the business of several NGOs. "Imagine, for a moment, that these arrivals dry up or disappear. This means that the budgets allocated to their operation will be revised downwards, hence their eagerness to sabotage actions aimed at reducing the influx of migratory flows," declared a former volunteer within a branch of the Andalucia Acoge association.

This is not the first time, as this year, circles and media close to the right have protested against the acquisition of vehicles dedicated to the Moroccan law enforcement authorities as part of the management of migratory flows, while Spain was only a manager of these funds which stem from an agreement signed between Rabat and Brussels in 2018. A rather curious fact, when migrant arrivals abound, the Spaniards unanimously denounce the "passivity" of the Moroccan authorities in controlling migrants. At the same time, they protest when their government financially participates in reducing the impact of the migratory wave.