{"id":39286,"date":"2026-08-10T12:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/39286\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T12:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:51:08","slug":"is-free-movement-in-europe-threatened-by-ceuta-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/39286\/","title":{"rendered":"Is free movement in Europe threatened by Ceuta crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An escalating row between Italy and Spain over the Ceuta crisis has threatened to derail freedom of movement within the European Union. <\/p>\n

The arrival of tens of thousands of migrants<\/a> to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in North Africa, at the end of July has resulted in Italy and Spain reintroducing border checks for travellers between the two countries, causing queues for European citizens. That is a rare scene in the Schengen area of 29 states, which usually allows travellers to move seamlessly between them. <\/p>\n

The move is part of a growing trend of border clampdowns as right-wing political parties in particular demand a halt to uncontrolled migration.<\/p>\n

But is it likely to be a permanent trend, or a temporary blip? <\/p>\n

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani<\/a> appears to be paving a way out of the crisis, saying checks could be lifted after August 15, as long as there is no new surge of migrants into Ceuta \u2013 after calls for more crossings were found on social media by the Spanish press. <\/p>\n

Following weeks of feuding with Spain, Mr Tajani offered a conciliatory tone on Monday, even as he reiterated his call for setting up return hubs for migrants in Africa<\/a>. \u201cImmigration must be managed together. Europe must protect its borders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Currently nine EU states have reintroduced border checks, which are required to be temporary and a response to exceptional situations. But some have been in place for years. <\/p>\n

Most date back to the 2015 migration crisis. Germany, France, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Denmark have extended them continuously since then. They are largely non-systematic and random.<\/p>\n

Migration is the main reason listed, with Berlin, for example, linking checks to \u201ccontinued serious threats to public security and order posed by continued high levels of irregular migration and migrant smuggling\u201d. Austria says they are required because of \u201ccontinuous threats to internal security posed by irregular migration along the Balkan routes\u201d.<\/p>\n

In June, the European Commission said the checks needed to be lifted and were no longer needed due to the EU adopting rules designed to make entry harder for migrants. Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt pushed back, saying those policies need to be improved. <\/p>\n

Internal politics<\/p>\n

Italy’s decision to introduce checks after the Ceuta incident is widely viewed as political and not a response to an exceptional threat. None of the 70,000 or so migrants that crossed into Ceuta in late July were able to travel to mainland Spain or onwards to other parts of the EU, Spanish authorities have said. Ceuta is outside the Schengen area. <\/p>\n

Rather, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni<\/a> is believed to be using the checks for internal political messaging purposes before an election next year. She faces a challenge from a politician from the hard-right, like her \u2013 former general Roberto Vannacci \u2013 and has sought to rally ranks behind her by attacking the socialist Spanish government.<\/p>\n

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Friday denounced Italy’s measures as \u201cunjustified\u201d and an \u201cattack on the dignity of the Spanish people\u201d. Speaking to Italian daily La Stampa on Sunday, his Italian counterpart, Mr Tajani, defended the decision, adding: \u201cAccording to Spanish intelligence, there is a risk of a new wave [of arrivals] by mid-August; keeping the measure in place is a precaution. We hope to lift the suspension soon, as soon as the risk is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ceuta puts focus on returning migrants<\/p>\n

EU Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner<\/a> has sought to smooth over the situation between Spain and Italy but has stopped short of criticising their decision to suspend Schengen rules. \u201cI was in contact with both the Spanish and Italian Interior Ministers today. Both confirmed that the internal border controls are temporary,\u201d Mr Brunner said on Saturday. \u201cI stressed the progress we\u2019ve made on tackling illegal migration and that trust between member states is our most valuable currency.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commission’s apparent unwillingness to push back against border checks has triggered criticism. \u201cMonitoring and enforcing EU rules, including Schengen, is precisely the Commission\u2019s job,\u201d Italian academic Alberto Alemanno told The National. <\/p>\n

\u201cCommissioner Brunner and [Commission] President [Ursula] von der Leyen should have flagged immediately that Italy\u2019s border checks were manifestly incompatible with Schengen rules. That would have removed Spain\u2019s justification for retaliating,\u201d said Mr Alemanno, who is a professor at HEC Paris. \u201cInstead, this Commission appears reluctant to use its own prerogatives, being servile to national interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Free movement in the Schengen area, however, is expected to survive. \u201cSchengen has proven resilient before and will survive this too. No citizen wants a return to border controls, which would cost individuals and the economy several points of GDP,\u201d Mr Alemanno added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An escalating row between Italy and Spain over the Ceuta crisis has threatened to derail freedom of movement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[241,5,1998,1152,1151,1153],"class_list":["post-39286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-europe","tag-italy","tag-migrants","tag-standard","tag-story","tag-uk-bureau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}