Spain Gives Italy Two Days to Lift Border Checks on Spanish Travellers
Madrid said Italy’s checks are unjustified and discriminatory, and warned it will adopt proportionate measures if Rome does not act by Sunday.
- On Friday, Spain threatened to impose reciprocal measures on travellers from Italy unless Rome lifts its border controls by Sunday, August 9, citing concerns over the Schengen arrangement.
- Italy partially suspended Schengen arrangements to prevent migrants from the mass influx into Ceuta from travelling onward, after about 72,000 people crossed the border and about 80 migrants died.
- Madrid dismissed the border suspension as based on "spurious arguments," asserting migrants in Ceuta could not access Schengen, and labeled the checks "unjustified, contrary to the interests of the European Union and discriminatory against the Spanish population."
- The dispute marks a new low in relations between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, as Italy has registered the highest number of "irregular crossings in recent years," double those of Spain.
- Meloni advocates for tighter immigration controls, while Sanchez supports a more liberal approach including regularisation; Italy did not immediately comment on the Spanish ultimatum.
126 Articles
126 Articles
Rome does not accept ultimatums or claims from abroad on matters of national security, Meloni said.
Italy introduced border controls for Spaniards on August 1st in response to the crisis in Ceuta on July 30th and 31st, when, according to Spanish government sources, some 72,000 people entered the Spanish exclave on the African continent from Morocco. Around 70,000 were returned to Morocco. Madrid: Italy's unprecedented decision. In a statement on Friday, the Spanish government said the measures taken by Italy were "unfair, contrary to the inter…
Italy defies Spanish demand to lift border curbs over Ceuta crisis
Spain threatened on Friday to impose restrictions on travellers from Italy unless Rome lifts by Sunday the border controls it introduced last week following a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Italy swiftly responded, saying it would not accept “ultimatums or impositions” from Madrid, adding that it would keep in place […]
Europe does not rest after the onslaught of Ceuta. Spain's head of government Sánchez sets Italy's Prime Minister Meloni a final deadline.
Italy defies Spanish demand to lift border curbs over Ceuta migrant crisis
Spain threatened on Friday to impose restrictions on travellers from Italy unless Rome lifts by Sunday the border controls it introduced last week following a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Italy swiftly responded, saying it would not accept “ultimatums or impositions” from Madrid, adding that it would keep in place its suspension of Schengen rules for non-EU nationals arriving from Spain until at least August 15. Ita…
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