Italy and Spain lift border controls after months of tension over Ceuta
Italy and Spain have agreed to lift border controls on each other's citizens, ending a three-month standoff triggered by a mass surge of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
The Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and his Spanish counterpart Fernando Grande-Marlaska spoke on the phone and agreed not to extend their suspension of the European Union's open-border Schengen arrangements. The decision, reached after a careful assessment of the situation, will be accompanied by enhanced information-sharing measures to ensure the full security of the common Schengen area.
Ceuta migrant surge
The tit-for-tat border closures happened after upwards of 70,000 people swam around barricades and entered Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco on July 30 and 31, fuelling tension in the Spanish territory. Most returned to Morocco within hours, but thousands, including unaccompanied minors, have remained for weeks in often dire conditions.
We thought our government was going to do something in the short or medium term, but we've been here for two months, and these people haven't been sent back.
Political impact
The Spanish government's handling of the mass crossing has complicated Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's bid for re-election in November. Sanchez was already facing criticism for his government's decision to open a path to legal status for hundreds of thousands of undocumented foreign residents.
After the Ceuta incident, Far-right Vox and centre-right PP parties accused him of being soft on immigration and put the issue at the centre of their campaigns in the run-up to next month's elections.
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