Spain pressures Italy to suspend border controls

The Spanish Executive reacted in this way to Italy’s decision to reintroduce, on August 1st, controls on the border with Spain after the massive entry of immigrants into Ceuta, a Spanish city located in North Africa, coming from Morocco.

This is a decision that, according to the Spanish government, affects the mobility of thousands of passengers and creates legal uncertainty during the summer holiday period.

In a statement released this Friday, the Spanish Executive also warns that this is an unprecedented measure in recent history, adopted without prior notice, unilaterally and with “false” arguments that do not adjust either to the Schengen Borders Code or to reality for a series of reasons.

The socialist administration justifies that none of the immigrants who entered Ceuta irregularly last week could or can freely enter the Schengen area, as the Spanish city has a special regime in this area.

Furthermore, he stated that almost all of these immigrants have already returned to Morocco and that Italy is, according to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), the European Union (EU) Member State that has recorded the most irregular crossings in recent years, with numbers that have doubled those of Spain.

The Spanish government also cited Italy for not complying with the Dublin Regulation (EU standard on asylum requests that establishes that the person responsible is the first European country in which the person enters or obtains a visa), since 2022, generating an additional burden of migratory pressure on the other Member States of the European bloc.

Despite this, Spain said it never introduced controls for Italy and, in fact, has always demonstrated “solidarity”, welcoming some of the immigrants who arrived in Lampedusa in 2023 and opening its ports on a recurring basis to immigrants rescued on the central Mediterranean route.

Thus, Pedro Sánchez’s government concludes that the measure adopted by the Italian Executive is “unfair, contrary to the interests of the EU and discriminatory towards the Spanish population”.

Therefore, it asks the Italian government to rectify, put an end to the controls and treat Spaniards like other European citizens.

“If it does not do so before the end of Sunday, August 9, Spain will be forced to adopt proportionate measures to protect the interests and reality of its citizens,” says the statement.

Also this Friday, the Spanish Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego, announced that 1,342 children under 18 were registered in the reception system created after the crisis and will be moved to Spanish territory within Europe in the coming weeks.