Agreement between Italia and Spain: an end to border controls

The Italian and Spanish Ministers of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi and Fernando Grande-Marlaska, following a telephone conversation – arranged after the meeting between Prime Ministers Giorgia Meloni and Pedro Sánchez on the sidelines of the European Council – have agreed that the Schengen suspensions currently in force in both countries will not be extended further. The decision, reached after a careful analysis of the situation, will be accompanied by an enhancement of information-sharing to ensure the full security of the Schengen area. This is according to sources at the Ministry of the Interior.

The agreement brings an end to a three-month dispute, triggered by the influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. The Schengen Area is a zone of free movement without internal border controls, established on 14 June 1985 by the agreement named after the Luxembourg town of the same name, where it was signed by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Italia signed the agreement in 1990.