Spain imposes border checks on Italian travelers in tit-for-tat move over Ceuta migrants row
The checks target passengers on flights and ships as Spain retaliates over Italy’s migration restrictions, with controls set to last at least one month.
- Effective Saturday, the Spanish government implemented mandatory passport, nationality, and visa checks for all arrivals from Italy, escalating a diplomatic row over migrant management between Madrid and Rome.
- The diplomatic dispute follows the sudden arrival of 72,000 migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last month, after which Italy began imposing border controls on Spanish citizens on August 1, citing criticism of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's migration policies.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office stated on Friday that Italian authorities "have no intention" of lifting border checks until at least August 15, maintaining Rome will not accept "ultimatums or impositions" regarding national security.
- Travelers arriving at Barcelona airport faced random police checks overnight as the new measures took effect, according to the Spanish state news agency EFE, after Italy rejected a demand to lift its restrictions by August 9.
- The dispute continues to strain the European Union's Schengen visa-free travel area, with Italy indicating it will only review border policy when certain of no "security or terrorist risks" or new waves of irregular migrants.
205 Articles
205 Articles
A passenger who flew from Madrid to Milan told Maldita.es that there was a passport check at the Italian airport and that, although she only had her national identity card (DNI) because she was traveling within the Schengen Area, she was allowed to pass. ABC also contacted passengers arriving in Rome, and one of them stated: “At boarding in Madrid, they asked us for our passports or national identity cards, as is normal, but here they didn't ask…
Spain checks Italy arrivals as migration row intensifies
Some leaders of the Popular Party, such as Isabel Díaz Ayuso, have questioned the government’s decision to establish border controls with Italy. The president of the Community of Madrid criticized the fact that “70,000 people were allowed to enter illegally only by Ceuta” and, now, “the Italians are prohibited from entering, a brother country that invests and contributes in Spain.” Along the same lines, some messages on social networks also repr…
The Spanish police have introduced random checks at all ports and airports hosting travellers from Italy, in response to the reintroduction by Rome of controls targeting flows from Spain.
Following the migrant situation in Ceuta, Italy has tightened controls on travelers from Spain. Now Spain has responded again by conducting passport checks on passengers from Italy.
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