Ceuta: Italia suspends Schengen Agreement with Spain. Sánchez: ‘We have fewer undocumented migrants than Italy’

The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made some very harsh remarks upon his arrival in Ceuta, where the migration crisis is currently unfolding. “What has happened is an attack on Spain’s territorial sovereignty,” he said from the Spanish enclave in Morocco, which has been stormed by thousands of migrants – 60,000 in the last few hours. In their attempt to reach the coast, 43 have died at sea. For the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, “the images from Ceuta are unacceptable” and she calls for “swift repatriation”.

Spain is to install buoys to create a physical barrier and border between Ceuta and Morocco, so that migrants can be repatriated more quickly. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Sánchez during his visit to Ceuta. The migration crisis has triggered a security alert: 30 people have been arrested following clashes at the border.

The number of migrants who have died in the last few hours whilst attempting to reach Ceuta – and whose bodies have been recovered by the police off the coast of the Spanish enclave in Morocco – has risen to 43. This has been reported by sources at the Ceuta Prefecture. The latest victims of the swimming crossings to the autonomous city join the more than 30 deaths recorded from the start of the year up to Wednesday, bringing the – still provisional – death toll for the past seven months to 73.

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior has announced that 48,300 departures from Ceuta have been recorded to Morocco. According to calculations by the newspaper El País, taking into account the approximately 50,000 people who entered the Spanish enclave. On the UN front, the agency UNHCR hopes “that all measures adopted by the countries involved in managing the situation are implemented in full compliance with international human rights law and international refugee law, including the principle of non-refoulement”.

“What happened in Ceuta is an attack and a violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty.” This was stated by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in Morocco that has been stormed by thousands of migrants arriving by sea and land over the past 24 hours. Sánchez expressed “the strongest possible rebuke and condemnation” of the mass arrivals. “It is deplorable,” he added. King Felipe VI of Spain held telephone discussions with the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and with the presidents of the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, Juan Jesús Vivas and Juan José Imbroda, regarding the crisis. Although it is not yet clear what prompted the latest influx of people into Ceuta, “several migrants told the New York Times that they had been encouraged to cross the border into Ceuta by the Moroccan authorities”. The American newspaper reports this in an account of the migration crisis in the Spanish enclave.

The EU has also made its voice heard. “The situation in Ceuta remains unacceptable. I reiterate that there are no migration flows towards the European mainland or other Member States. The Schengen Code provides the legal framework that applies to Ceuta and Melilla. Checks on people leaving Ceuta and Melilla remain in place.” The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner wrote this on X, explaining that Brussels “welcomes the cooperation between Spain and Morocco in managing the situation and ensuring swift returns. Morocco is included on the EU list of safe countries of origin’. The Irish Presidency of the European Union ‘will convene a meeting of the Integrated Crisis Response Mechanism (ICPR) on Saturday 1 August. A meeting of Coreper is also scheduled for Monday to assess developments and facilitate coordination’. This was announced by a spokesperson for the Irish Presidency of the EU.

According to the EU, ‘there are no movements towards the mainland or other Member States. Special Schengen rules apply to Ceuta and Melilla. Checks are fully operational for departures. We wish to emphasise this point particularly strongly’. The same sources emphasised that a Frontex detachment is already present at the port of Ceuta, but the EU is ‘ready to provide further support, including through Europol and the European Asylum Agency’.

At present, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has a team of 30 staff members at the port of Ceuta, assisting with “routine border checks”. For the time being, “no further requests for assistance or additional staff have been received. “We are, however, ready,” EU sources say, “to step up this support as soon as we receive a request.”

On the Moroccan side, attempts are being made to pour water on the fire: ‘We will take them all back, without exception’. This is what the Moroccan Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, assured the government in Madrid, after some 60,000 Moroccans arrived in Ceuta in recent days – the Spanish enclave considered the gateway to Europe. Spain and Morocco “have committed to reviewing and implementing measures to enable the return, as soon as possible, of all those who have entered Ceuta illegally”, said the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlanska, referring to the promise made by Rabat.

There are also those who are exploiting the issue purely for electoral gain. US President Donald Trump, speaking to Fox News, for example, described the images coming out of the Spanish enclave as ‘terrible’, stating that the same thing could happen in the US in three years’ time ‘if the wrong side wins’ in the next election. ‘Remember those images. If the Democrats come to power, you won’t have a very nice life,’ added the tycoon. According to ‘The Donald’, the situation in Spain is a ‘catastrophe’; it looks like an ‘invasion, and the same thing will happen to us if the Republicans don’t win’, said the US president during the cabinet meeting at Camp David. “It is the result of weak laws, mismanagement and very liberal regulations.”

The United States has accused Spain of ‘deliberate efforts’ that have encouraged illegal immigration into Europe. “This unacceptable incident is the direct consequence of the Spanish government’s deliberate efforts to allow and facilitate mass illegal immigration into Europe,” the State Department said on X, commenting on the crisis in Ceuta.

The Russians have commented sarcastically on the incident. “I expect the European Union and all its member states to fulfil their human rights obligations,” said the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova. “Let them provide Moroccan citizens seeking democracy in Europe with everything that Westerners have taken from the African continent over the centuries. Everyone needs citizenship.”

Moroccan security forces did not even attempt to stop the flood of people who, within a matter of hours – first by sea, then crossing the border by land – reached Ceuta in recent days, the gateway from Africa to Europe.

The situation suddenly escalated, with thousands of people pouring into the Spanish enclave in broad daylight, rushing towards the double border barrier. The crisis is reminiscent of the one experienced in May 2021, when at least 8,000 North Africans entered the Spanish autonomous city in Morocco. Madrid is now prepared to mobilise the army to deal with the situation.

Whilst Brussels is monitoring the development of the crisis and pledging its full commitment to protecting the EU’s borders, sources at Palazzo Chigi in Rome have indicated that the government is considering suspending the Schengen Agreement with Spain. The first to sound the alarm was the president of the enclave, Juan Jesus Vivas, who highlighted the migratory pressure over the past week, with the arrival of 1,500–2,000 people swimming across, at a rate of 300 a day. “We are facing an absolute humanitarian and social emergency,” reiterated the governor, who called on Madrid to declare a national state of emergency, establish a single command centre and reinforce the security forces by deploying the army to defend “public safety”.

The Ceuta Assembly has unanimously approved a motion calling for the temporary closure of the border with Morocco as an “urgent and imperative” measure in response to what has been described as “the most serious crisis in recent years”. Behind this new wave of migration lie poverty, a lack of prospects and expectations fuelled by social media, alongside the window of opportunity presented by good weather and calm seas, just a stone’s throw from the Strait of Gibraltar. But that is not all. “They can’t find legal routes. Their only option is to throw themselves into the sea and enter Ceuta,” says Ismail El Makdoubi, a migrant and president of the Exmenas association. According to the activist, the recent ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court – which rules out immediate pushbacks for those who reach the enclave by swimming – has, together with people-smuggling networks and online buzz, fuelled the belief that crossing the border is now easier. “We feel abandoned, without protection. Thousands of migrants are on the streets, wandering without knowing where to go,” say the residents of Ceuta, describing the scale the crisis is now reaching, with numerous people missing at sea and the Civil Guard having recovered at least sixteen bodies of people who drowned.

The Spanish authorities have not provided any official estimates of the number of migrants who have entered. “The human tide has already reached 5 kilometres at the border,” according to the TVE correspondent. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, will be in Ceuta tomorrow, together with the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to assess the situation on the ground. This has been reported by sources at Moncloa.

“This message from the Foreign Minister of a friendly country and partner from whom we expect European solidarity rather than party political demagoguery is disgraceful.” The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, wrote this on X in response to a post by Antonio Tajani, in which the Deputy Prime Minister expressed his support for closing the Schengen area to Spain following the migration crisis in Ceuta. Albares announced that he had summoned the Italian ambassador to Spain in protest.

The migration crisis that has hit Ceuta “has nothing to do with the regularisation of migrants approved by the Spanish government”, but was triggered by an interpretation of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on people who have entered the country by swimming, “exploited by mafias and criminal organisations”. Sources at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised this to ANSA, commenting on the statements by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani regarding their intention to suspend free movement within the Schengen area.