The European Union has praised Spain’s “swift response” to the migrant crisis in Ceuta, following a meeting of the bloc’s interior ministers on Tuesday.
Around 72,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish territory in North Africa between 30 and 31 July, Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said. He added that an estimated 70,000 have since been returned to Morocco.
At least 75 people died on the Spanish side of the border, while 11 deaths were reported in Morocco.
Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, said the EU stood in solidarity with Spain and that migration required “a united European response”.
The meeting had been expected to draw some tension, following earlier criticism of Spain from several EU nations.
On Thursday, Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the images from Ceuta as “shocking”, writing on social media that such “uncontrolled immigration” was a security threat to Europe.
Italy suspended the Schengen zone agreement with Spain on free movement on Friday. Since the two countries do not share a land border, this would only apply, effectively, to flights – which appears simply to mean extra checks for passengers.
The Schengen agreement eliminates border checks and now encompasses more than 450 million people and 29 countries in Europe.
Finland and Denmark backed Italy’s move, while Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš urged a temporary suspension of Spain’s Schengen membership.
Italy, along with Denmark and 20 other nations, later sent a letter expressing their concern over the Ceuta migrant crisis, and calling for a meeting of EU ministers.
In response, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he had “serious concerns” about some European governments and pointed out that Ceuta was not part of the Schengen area.
While most had shown “support and solidarity”, he said other European governments had chosen to attack Spain, “driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance, or political interest”.
Speaking after the meeting on Tuesday, Grande-Marlaska said the Schengen zone had not been compromised and that he hoped Italy would lift any added controls “as soon as possible”.
Denmark’s immigration minister Morten Bødskov said he was “very satisfied” with Spain’s quick response, but added that the incident showed “it is absolutely crucial that we have control over the EU’s borders”.
Speaking afterwards, EU commissioner Magnus Brunner said the incident had been a “test” of European resilience and border security – which he said it had successfully “passed”.
Brunner added that the EU had offered Spain emergency financial support to strengthen its borders and manage the crisis.
It is unknown exactly what led the tens of thousands of migrants to cross from Morocco into Ceuta in a span of just a few hours last week.
Brunner said it is thought that the influx was fuelled by criminal networks and social media disinformation.
The crossings came after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish exclave, cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.
Moroccan authorities later said that it had warned Spain the ruling would cause “a problem”, but Spain rejected this claim, with a government spokeswoman saying it had no evidence or intelligence “that alerted us to the magnitude of this unprecedented event”.
Source: BBC