Italia-Spagna clash: what does this mean for travellers?
To enter Spain, you are still required to present a travel ID card or passport
What will change for travellers following the decision by the Madrid government to reinstate until 7 September border controls at ports and airports with direct links between Italia and Spain?
Identity card or passport
From a formal point of view, nothing has changed, as the entry requirements remain the same: you need a passport or identity card valid for travel abroad for the entire duration of your stay. The additional checks apply to non-EU citizens.
From a practical point of view, however, the suspension of the Schengen Agreement could lead to queues and longer waiting times for disembarkation and document checks at airports and ports. The diplomatic escalation will therefore end up affecting passengers from both countries because the move by the government of Pedro Sánchez is a retaliatory measure in response to a similar move by Giorgia Meloni on 31 July following the migration crisis in Ceuta.
‘Inconvenience and queues for tens of thousands of tourists’
With the suspension of the Schengen Agreement between Italia and Spain, “tens of thousands of people, both Italian and Spanish, will face more thorough checks than before, and this is causing queues and disruption at airports and ports in both countries. Above all, Italians are now also affected; as of midnight yesterday, they will be subject to these checks in Spain and may have to wait an hour or an hour and a half before being able to cross the border.” This is according to Gian Mario Pileri, president of Fiavet, the travel agencies’ association of Confcommercio.
Checks for Spanish travellers in Italia
This has already been seen in the case of passengers arriving from Spain, for whom – as the Italian government had assured – there are no additional bureaucratic requirements, although at some arrival terminals in Italia they are directed to a dedicated lane. At Fiumicino Airport, which handles up to 60 daily flights from Spain during the summer, passengers on an Iberia flight that had taken off from Madrid confirmed to the Efe news agency that police officers were checking their documents directly on the jet bridge – the boarding tunnel connecting the aircraft to the terminal.
