Spain Gives Italy Two Days to Lift Border Checks on Spanish Travellers
Spain says Italy’s checks are unjustified and discriminatory, warning of reciprocal steps if Rome does not reverse them 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.
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186 Articles
The Spanish government has called on the Italian government to end the suspension of the Schengen Agreement, which was ordered due to mass border breaches in Ceuta.
Spain to impose checks on travelers from Italy amid row over Ceuta migration crisis: Reports
Spain will begin carrying out random identity checks on travelers arriving from Italy on Saturday, according to local media reports, after Rome refused to lift temporary border controls imposed following the recent migration crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
Spain imposes border checks on visitors from Italy amid Ceuta migrant rush row
Spain said it will impose border checks on flights and ships arriving from Italy from Saturday night. The move deepens a standoff with Rome after the Ceuta migrant rush and competing security concerns.
Sydney Morning Herald
‘A torpedo’: Italy-Spain border blow-up now a major headache for Europe – and Australian travellers
A sudden move to deepen the dispute could ensnare thousands of travellers moving between the two countries – and erode an agreement on passport checks across Europe.
Spain began inspecting Italian travelers in response to Italy's border restrictions, which were triggered by the influx of immigrants into Ceuta. As the confrontation between the two countries over the operation of the Schengen Agreement escalated into political conflict, relations between Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni deteriorated.
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