{"id":722892,"date":"2026-08-01T14:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/722892\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T14:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:31:15","slug":"spanish-pm-calls-for-urgent-eu-meeting-after-selfish-responses-to-ceuta-crisis-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/722892\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish PM calls for urgent EU meeting after \u2018selfish\u2019 responses to Ceuta crisis | Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain\u2019s prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, has called for an urgent meeting of EU interior ministers after what he called some member states\u2019 \u201cselfish, polarising and unlawful reaction\u201d to this week\u2019s mass border crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in north Africa.<\/p>\n

More than 50,000 people crossed into the territory from Morocco<\/a> on Thursday and Friday, with at least 67 people dying in the attempt. Some drowned, while others were crushed as they tried to cross a breakwater barrier.<\/p>\n

Although more than 48,000 people had voluntarily returned to Morocco<\/a> by 6pm on Friday, the influx triggered a political crisis for the Madrid government and led some fellow EU countries to call for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez confirmed \u201cvirtually all\u201d of those who had crossed the border had been returned, \u201cpreventing any unauthorised onward movement towards continental Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he asked for the meeting after what appeared to be a breakdown of EU unity on external border policy, with Italy attacking Spain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Italy announced on Friday evening that it would suspend its Schengen arrangements with Spain for a month, even though Ceuta \u2013 and Spain\u2019s other north African enclave, Melilla \u2013 are subject to special Schengen rules that prevent onward movement within the zone.<\/p>\n

Map showing location of Ceuta in Mediterranean region, and another showing location of Tarajal breakwater on border between Ceuta and Morocco<\/a><\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, blamed the situation in Ceuta on the S\u00e1nchez government\u2019s decision to offer a now-closed scheme to regularise the status<\/a> of more than 1 million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. He said the programme had incentivised human trafficking and was \u201cprofoundly wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez was forthright in a letter sent to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Council president, Ant\u00f3nio Costa, and Miche\u00e1l Martin, the prime minister of Ireland, which holds the EU presidency.<\/p>\n

Pedro S\u00e1nchez speaking at a press conference in Ceuta on Friday. Photograph: Borja Puig de la Bellacasa\/Moncloa handout\/EPA<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez said that while most EU countries had expressed support and solidarity over events in Ceuta, others had chosen to attack Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch an attitude \u2013 driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interest \u2013 is \u2026 contrary to European law, humanitarian law, and the principles of solidarity that bind us together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a pointed rebuke to Italy, he noted that Spain was \u201caccording to Frontex, one of the least porous external borders of the European Union<\/a>, with a number of irregular entries that is half that recorded, for example, in Italy in recent years (2021\u20132026)\u201d.<\/p>\n

He concluded by saying the EU could not afford \u201cthis kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction\u201d and asked for an urgent video conference of EU interior ministers to address the issue.<\/p>\n

Senior EU officials are due to meet on Saturday in a \u201cpolitical crisis response team\u201d convened by Ireland\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

\"TensTens of thousands of migrants cross into Spanish enclave Ceuta from Morocco – video<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s justice minister, Jim O\u2019Callaghan, who is leading the meeting on behalf of the EU, said he had been in touch with Spain\u2019s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to express his solidarity and support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will remain in close contact with the Spanish government, member states and the EU institutions as the situation evolves,\u201d he said on Friday night.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s interior minister, Laurent Nu\u00f1ez, said his country would not be seeking Spain\u2019s suspension from Schengen rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely not on the table,\u201d he said on Saturday. \u201cWe have great cooperation with Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the remaining people who crossed into Ceuta returned to Morocco on Saturday morning amid a reinforced Spanish police and military presence.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every day<\/p>\n

Sign up to Headlines Europe<\/p>\n

A digest of the morning’s main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to go to Europe to work and earn a living \u2013 that\u2019s it,\u201d Souleil Boyan, a 19-year-old from Senegal, told Agence France-Presse outside a migrant centre in Ceuta where dozens of other people from sub-Saharan Africa were waiting for officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that in Africa there isn\u2019t much opportunity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Spanish government said in a statement on Saturday that the situation in Ceuta remained calm and quiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cFriday night passed without incident,\u201d it said. \u201cEntries were completely halted, while departures to Morocco continued without any notable events.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said containment barriers were being installed at the Tarajal beach breakwater, including a 500-metre-long inflatable barrier and a line of anchored buoys.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s mass crossing dwarfs the last similar event in May 2021, when Morocco loosened its border controls, allowing about 10,000 people to enter the territory over two days.<\/p>\n

That crossing came amid heightened tensions between Madrid and Rabat over Spain\u2019s decision to allow the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, the Polisario Front, to be treated for Covid-19 in Spain. Morocco and the Polisario Front both lay claim to Western Sahara, which was under Spanish rule until 1975, when colonial authorities handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania.<\/p>\n

That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its longstanding policy of neutrality and backed Morocco\u2019s plan for Western Sahara, a move that caused a rift between Spain and Algeria, which had supported the Polisario group.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez visited Algiers on 20 July \u2013 the first visit by a Spanish head of government in four years \u2013 marking a thaw in relations with Algeria.<\/p>\n

The Spanish government has attributed the latest influx to \u201chuman-trafficking mafias\u201d that have taken advantage of a decision by Spain\u2019s supreme court, which recently ruled that those intercepted at sea while trying to enter Ceuta or Melilla could not be summarily returned under special rules.<\/p>\n

But some migration experts have expressed doubts about that explanation. Mauricio Valiente, the director general of the Spanish Refugee Aid Commission, said the route into Ceuta was very different from the Atlantic route from Africa to the Canary Islands<\/a>, which is often operated by people smugglers.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike what happens in the Canary Islands, these aren\u2019t people who have to get into a small boat,\u201d he told elDiario.es<\/a>. \u201cThis is a matter of being just metres from a land border, jumping into the sea and trying to get around a breakwater, which makes it much easier to do, even with all the risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valiente said there had been a steady increase in arrivals to Ceuta this year, even before the supreme court ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe causes are complex, and there are surely many reasons,\u201d he said. \u201cBut to simplify it by referencing the court ruling or organised crime \u2013 to say there\u2019s a direct cause-and-effect relationship \u2013 is completely unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, has called for an urgent meeting of EU interior ministers after what he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-722892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}