{"id":582649,"date":"2026-08-04T06:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/582649\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T06:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:26:09","slug":"ireland-to-urge-solidarity-with-spain-in-aftermath-of-migrant-crisis-in-ceuta-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/582649\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland to urge solidarity with Spain in aftermath of migrant crisis in Ceuta \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland will set out the need for solidarity with Spain in the aftermath of last week\u2019s migrant crisis<\/a> in Ceuta when Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan chairs an emergency meeting of EU ministers today.<\/p>\n

Tensions have risen in recent days after some EU member states warned they could impose border checks and even suspend Spain<\/a>\u2019s participation in Europe\u2019s free-travel zone, the Schengen area.<\/p>\n

This came after more than 50,000 people crossed into the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa from Morocco<\/a> last Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n

At least 72 people died in the attempted crossing, some drowning and others being crushed as they tried to cross a breakwater barrier.<\/p>\n

Ireland has convened an emergency meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers as part of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. The ministers will gather via video link.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan will open the meeting, with a Government source saying he will seek to \u201cre-emphasise solidarity and unity at the heart of the European project\u201d.<\/p>\n

He will also outline the need for the EU to \u201cwork effectively together in how we deal with third countries\u201d. He will call for this to be done in a \u201cmore collaborative way\u201d than has been seen in recent days. <\/p>\n

Countries such as Italy and Denmark have taken a hard line on the crisis and were among those that wrote to European Council<\/a> president Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/a>, European Commission<\/a> president Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> over the weekend. <\/p>\n

In the letter, 22 EU leaders requested an extraordinary meeting of interior ministers to decide on an \u201cimmediate and co-ordinated European response\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings\u201d or \u201cother hybrid threats to create the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible,\u201d the EU leaders wrote. Italy<\/a>\u2019s Giorgia Meloni<\/a> and Germany<\/a>\u2019s Friedrich Merz<\/a> were among the leaders behind the letter.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Spain\u2019s foreign minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares told TVE, Spain\u2019s state-owned station, that nearly everyone who illegally crossed into Ceuta last week has left. He pledged to return \u201cevery last\u201d person to Morocco.<\/p>\n

Spain and Morocco have blamed the sudden surge on misinformation circulated about a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that restricts the immediate returns of migrants intercepted at sea.<\/p>\n

Spain has bristled at the pile-on by other European countries, accusing fellow EU members of lacking the unity it says the bloc must display in such moments. Spain also insists it acted rapidly in response, halting the crisis before it spread.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen backed that assessment on Monday in a letter sent to Spanish prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez \u2013 a shift in tone from the concern she expressed last Friday. <\/p>\n

The European Commission president said Spain and Morocco had \u201cmanaged this efficiently and effectively, successfully preventing illegal movement onwards to mainland Spain and Europe\u201d. She said the situation has shown \u201cthe returns system in place worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

That outcome has not prevented tensions from spilling over between EU members. Spain and Italy, in particular, have been trading barbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been states that have not risen to the occasion, governments that have not risen to the occasion,\u201d Albares said. \u201cThe Italian government has been one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albares argued Europe must now unite instead of fighting. EU ambassadors tried to do just that during a Monday afternoon meeting in Brussels. They expressed solidarity with Spain and agreed the country had quickly returned people to Morocco, according to an EU ambassador.<\/p>\n

The Irish government source said of that meeting: \u201cCertainly today it felt like people wished to take the temperature down a bit.\u201d (Additional reporting: Bloomberg)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland will set out the need for solidarity with Spain in the aftermath of last week\u2019s migrant crisis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2244,18425,61,60,102,18573,30898,43,2846,1713],"class_list":["post-582649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-eu","tag-giorgia-meloni","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-italy","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-morocco","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}