"From this incident, it is clear that we must do more to further strengthen our borders at critical points," Von der Leyen wrote in a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. "The protection of all our external borders is a shared European responsibility," she warned, calling for vigilant monitoring and the use of physical barriers where needed.
Von der Leyen urged the bloc to double down in five areas: preventing irregular migration in the first place via cooperation with partner states; intensifying external borders; deploying early warning systems; dismantling smuggling networks; and reinforcing migrant returns.
