Spain’s government said on Friday it would establish border controls for flights and ships from Italy from midnight on Saturday until September 7th in a dispute with the neighbouring country over irregular migration.
Passport, nationality and visa checks would be conducted for Italian passengers and visitors from other countries arriving from Italy “amid the persistent irregular migratory pressure” from the country.
Spain said the measures would apply while Italy applied its own measures which it said were motivated by the mass migration rush by 72,000 people on Spain’s African enclave of Ceuta on July 30th.
Earlier on Friday, Italy said it would not bow to “ultimatums or impositions” from Spain and would maintain border controls on arrivals from the country until at least August 15th.
Spain threatened earlier on Friday to impose reciprocal measures on travellers from Italy unless Rome lifted by Sunday the border controls it imposed last week, following the mass influx of migrants from Morocco into Ceuta.
In a statement, the Italian government said it would only reconsider its decision once it was certain there were no security or terrorism risks, no new migration wave and no irregular migrants heading towards European territory. – Reuters
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