Spain will impose border controls on all travel from Italy as a row between the two EU countries intensifies.
The measures – coming into force at midnight (22:00 GMT) and lasting for a month – come a week after Italy introduced similar measures following an influx of about 78,000 migrants from neighbouring Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
The disagreement intensified on Friday after Spain demanded Italy reverse its restrictions by Sunday – prompting Rome to say it will not accept “ultimatums”.
Instead, in its response, Italy said it planned to keep border checks in place until at least 15 August – when, according to it, Spain “expects a new wave of migration” to hit Ceuta.
Spain has not announced an anticipated second wave of crossings. Reports have been fuelled by social media activity by Moroccan users planning another attempt, El Pais reports.
The Spanish prime minister’s office told the newspaper they were monitoring the situation but did not expect a repeat of scenes from last week.
Last week’s crossings marked a new low in relations between Spain’s socialist leader Pedro Sanchez and Italy’s conservative leader Giorgia Meloni – who has long called for stricter migration rules in the EU.
Italy, which does not share a land border with Spain, said its decision to partially suspend the EU’s border-free Schengen arrangements was to prevent any of the migrants who had entered Ceuta from travelling on to Italy.
Madrid dismissed this position, saying it was based on “spurious arguments” that lacked any basis in fact because the migrants who entered Ceuta had no way of entering the Schengen area. It added the vast majority of migrants have already returned to Morocco.
In its response to the Spanish threat earlier on Friday, Italy’s government said it did not intend “under any circumstances to reconsider the decision to suspend the application of the Schengen Agreement for third-country nationals arriving from Spain, at least until August 15th and in any case until security and terrorist risks for Italy have been completely eliminated”.
The counter-measures Madrid was imposing, a statement from its government said, were in response to “the persistent irregular migration pressure that Italy is experiencing”.
They would stay in place until 7 September “unless a change in the circumstances that led to its adoption warrants modifying that period”.
It remains unclear exactly why tens of thousands of migrants attempted to cross into Ceuta, but the EU’s Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner has suggested criminal networks spreading disinformation were to blame – an assertion the Spanish government has agreed with.
The crossings came after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.
Morocco, for its part, has laid blame for the crisis on the court, with an unnamed government source briefing local outlets that “the deterrent element of the system collapsed and the dam gave way, not under the weight of the criminals, but of a judge’s decision”.
The number of people swimming to Ceuta at once has raised questions about why Morocco’s border guards did not attempt to stop them.
Nearly 1,400 minors, some of them “very young boys and girls”, still remain in Ceuta following last week’s crossings, Spanish Youth Minister Sira Rego said on Friday.
She added: “There was a situation in which the system was overwhelmed, but it is now being brought under control. It is true that there are many boys and girls, and the procedure takes time.
“We wanted to make clear that we have prioritized the most vulnerable cases.”
The two exclaves have long been a bone of diplomatic contention between Spain and Morocco, which does not recognise Spanish sovereignty over them.
The Ceuta crossings have also caused a diplomatic rift among EU nations that share open borders as part of the Schengen area.
Italy’s decision to suspend its agreement was backed by Finland and Denmark, while the Czech Republic called for Spain’s membership to be temporarily suspended.
Italian officials have said local authorities carrying out checks do “everything possible” to ensure maximum comfort for both Spanish and other European citizens arriving in Italy from Spain.
Rome has also reiterated that Spanish citizens are exempt from additional checks when arriving in Italy, with these extra steps only for non-EU residents.
However, El Pais reported that several airport terminals have seen long queues and waiting times in recent days, with passengers arriving from Spain directed to a specific line for checks.
Temporary suspensions of the Schengen agreement are not unprecedented. Italy also maintains controls on its border with Slovenia.
By BBC News
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