Euskadi claims recognition as the Northern Border and calls for certainty regarding the implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum

• The Red Cross presented in Irun the results of the humanitarian assistance service for migrants in transit: 3,121 people assisted during 2025 and more than 40,000 total interventions since 2018.

• For another year, it has not been necessary to activate the Contingency Plan: the regular Hilanderas I facility has been sufficient to meet assistance needs.

• The Basque Government highlights that, for the third consecutive year, no deaths have been recorded in the Bidasoa area.

• The Basque Government stresses that the presence of the Canary Islands at the meeting, as the southern border, strengthens Euskadi’s claim as the northern border of the Iberian Peninsula and the European Union.

• Nerea Melgosa calls on the Government of Spain for information, coordination, and participation of border territories regarding the implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum.

The Gordailu Space in Irun hosted this Friday the Interinstitutional Coordination Board for the Reception of Migrants in Transit, convened by the Department of Welfare, Youth and Demographic Challenge of the Basque Government. The meeting served to analyse the current situation of migratory transit through Euskadi, review the humanitarian assistance service managed by the Red Cross, and share scenarios regarding the upcoming implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Representatives attended from the provincial councils, the City Council of Irun, the councils of the Basque capitals, the Basque Government, the Subdelegation of the Government of Spain in Gipuzkoa, third-sector organisations working in the field of migration, and a delegation from the Government of the Canary Islands.

The presence of the Canary Islands had special institutional significance. The Basque Government considers that the archipelago, as the southern border of Spain and the European Union, represents essential experience for understanding current migration flows. At the same time, Euskadi asserts that its role as a transit territory toward northern Europe should be formally recognised as the Northern Border.

"Canary Islands represents the southern border and Euskadi represents, in practice, the northern border. This is not about setting territories against one another, but about recognising that border territories need information, resources, coordination and shared governance," said Minister Nerea Melgosa.

2025 Assistance Service Results

During the meeting, the Red Cross presented the results of the humanitarian assistance service for migrants in transit in Irun. During 2025, 3,121 people were assisted. This figure forms part of a sustained evolution of the phenomenon since 2018: 5,837 people assisted in 2018; 4,244 in 2019; 3,493 in 2020; 8,115 in 2021; 6,253 in 2022; 3,317 in 2023; 6,243 in 2024; and 3,121 in 2025.

The year 2024 marked a significant increase, with 6,243 people assisted, 53% more than in 2023. In addition, the first three months of 2024 accounted for 41% of all assistance provided during the year, demonstrating the need to maintain services prepared for sharp fluctuations in migration flows.

In 2025, the majority profile continued to be young men: 88% of those assisted were men, 9% women, and 3% minors accompanied by an adult guardian. The main nationalities assisted were Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Senegal and Ivory Coast.

The service provides uninterrupted assistance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is aimed at offering a safe space, meeting basic needs, identifying vulnerabilities, providing individual guidance, preventing risk situations and protecting rights.

During the last year, it was not necessary to activate the Contingency Plan. The regular Hilanderas facility was sufficient to meet identified needs, maintaining uninterrupted humanitarian assistance adapted to the evolution of migration flows.

Likewise, the Basque Government highlighted that 2025 was another year without fatalities in the Bidasoa area. After the deaths recorded in 2021 and 2022, the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 ended without any person losing their life in this border environment.

"This is especially significant. For another year, no person has lost their life in the Bidasoa, and we have not had to activate the Contingency Plan either. This shows that institutional and social coordination makes it possible to provide a humanitarian response through ordinary resources, without losing the capacity for anticipation," said Melgosa.

Among the developments observed during 2025 are the growth of return flows from third countries, increased demand for guidance regarding international protection, and longer-than-desirable stays in some cases.
Since 2018, Euskadi has directly assisted more than 40,000 migrants in transit. Most of them remain in Basque territory for a short period, with the intention of continuing their journey to other European countries. However, that stay requires an organised, coordinated, and sustainable humanitarian response.

Euskadi’s Response Capacity

Melgosa stressed that "Euskadi has demonstrated for years a response capacity based on institutional coordination, collaboration with the third sector, and commitment to human rights." In that regard, she defended that recognition of Euskadi as the Northern Border "is not a symbolic demand, but an organisational, structural, and fairness-based necessity."

The Basque Government is calling on the Government of Spain for the formal recognition of Euskadi as the Northern Border, stable funding mechanisms, shared governance spaces, and the incorporation of this reality into a comprehensive and structural state migration policy.

The minister insisted that this demand is made from a position of institutional loyalty and willingness to cooperate: "Euskadi wants to be part of the solution. It does not look the other way and does not disengage. But it needs the State to recognise the role we are playing, share information, anticipate scenarios, and build with border territories a serious, humane and sustainable response."

The meeting also addressed the existing uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, scheduled for June. The Basque Government considers it essential to know in advance how it will be applied in practice, what role the autonomous communities will have, how legal assistance and protection for vulnerable people—especially minors—will be guaranteed, and what resources will be made available for border territories.

"We welcome that the Government of Spain has activated an extraordinary regularisation process for people who are already in the country. But regularisation does not exhaust migration policy, nor does it by itself answer the questions raised by the European Pact. We need clarity, information and participation," said Melgosa.

The Basque Government considers that migratory transit must be addressed by distinguishing it from other migration realities, such as international protection, homelessness, or the integration processes of people who wish to remain in Euskadi. This distinction makes it possible to provide more appropriate assistance, avoid social confusion, and sustain a proportionate public response.

The Inter-institutional Coordination Board for the Reception of Migrants in Transit will continue to be the main space for cooperation between institutions and social organisations to analyse the evolution of migration flows, share information, and adapt response mechanisms. "Migration can be used to fuel fear, division, and noise, or it can be approached through responsibility, cooperation, and humanity. Euskadi has chosen the second path," Melgosa concluded.