The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will visit Mauritania next Thursday in an effort to strengthen cooperation in the fight against irregular migration attempting to enter the European Union via the Atlantic route, through which more than 40,000 people arrived in the Canary Islands last year.

Community sources have confirmed to Europa Press the Thursday trip and pointed out that the visit is also part of the project to boost investments in clean energies, especially after Brussels expressed its willingness last October to assist this country in becoming a hub for green hydrogen.

On this very Monday, during his appearance before the International Cooperation Committee of the Congress of Deputies, Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel Albares emphasized that Mauritania is "a strategic country for Spain" and assured that "it will receive strong support throughout this legislative period" as it is affected by the "repercussions" of the situation in the neighboring Sahel region.

Both Albares and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska have traveled to Mauritania during this legislative period with the aim of strengthening the fight against migrant-trafficking mafias and cutting off irregular routes.

In the case of Marlaska, the trip took place last October, and he was accompanied by the Vice President of the European Commission responsible for migration policy, Margaritis Schinas.

Last Wednesday, the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, stated that Mauritania accounted for 83% of the migrants who have arrived in the Canary Islands so far this year. He announced that relations with this African country would be "intensified," as is already being done with Senegal and Morocco.

The number of arrivals by boat to the Canary Islands in January, according to the official report from the Ministry of the Interior, was as follows: from January 1st to 31st, a total of 7,270 migrants irregularly accessed the islands, surpassing the total for the first six months of 2023.

The trip by the President of the Government with the head of the European Commission will take place a few days before they meet again in Brussels with the Minister of the Presidency, Justice, and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, and the Deputy Secretary of Institutional Affairs of the PP, Esteban González Pons, in what will be the second meeting of the mediation assumed by the European Commission to unblock the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).

Although it is the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, who has taken on the role of "facilitator" in the structured dialogue overseen by Brussels, he himself indicated before announcing the first meeting that this mediation was unusual, so he needed to coordinate the process with the president of the institution.