Spain accuses EU allies of ‘selfish’ response after nearly 60,000 migrants enter Ceuta

Spain has accused several European Union governments of a selfish and unlawful reaction after nearly 60,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, triggering a wave of statements from EU member states calling for tighter border restrictions.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in a letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, described the response from unnamed member states as selfish, polarizing and unlawful. According to a report by the British broadcaster, Sanchez said Madrid had restored order within 48 hours, returning most of the migrants to Morocco and preventing them from reaching mainland Europe.

The diplomatic dispute was triggered largely by Italy’s response, which included a temporary suspension of visa free travel with Spain under the Schengen arrangement, along with pointed criticism accusing Madrid of encouraging human trafficking by granting citizenship to more than 500,000 people who had entered the country irregularly.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on social media that he supports closing the Schengen area to Spain and expressed confidence in the actions of Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi. He said uncontrolled and irregular immigration represents a threat to national security, and argued that the situation unfolding in Ceuta demonstrates how Spain’s decision to naturalize large numbers of irregular immigrants was fundamentally wrong and only encourages trafficking.

Italy was not alone in calling for a tougher stance. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis went further, calling for Spain to be suspended immediately from the 29 member Schengen arrangement. Finland and Denmark also voiced support for stricter border controls in response to the crisis.

Notably, Ceuta itself lies outside the Schengen zone, meaning the enclave is not directly governed by the same free movement rules at the center of the diplomatic dispute between Madrid and its European partners.

The clash highlights long standing tensions within the European Union over how to handle migration pressure at its external borders, an issue that has repeatedly strained relations between member states with differing approaches to asylum policy, border enforcement and integration in recent years.