Spain\u2019s interior minister headed into a tense face-off with EU counterparts on Tuesday, as the bloc sought to draw lessons from an influx of migrants into Spain\u2019s North African enclave of Ceuta in hastily arranged video talks.<\/p>\n
The unprecedented sight of an estimated 50,000 people streaming into Ceuta from Morocco \u2014 dozens died in the attempt and almost all have since left \u2014 exposed the fault lines on migration among EU nations.<\/p>\n
Since images first emerged of the mass arrivals, most of whom swam around a barrier separating the enclave from Morocco, the Spanish government has found itself pitted against many of its EU partners.<\/p>\n
The bloc\u2019s interior ministers dialled in at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) for a videoconference that could provide a chance to look for common ground \u2014 but looked equally likely to set the stage for a showdown.<\/p>\n
While Spain moved swiftly to send migrants back from Ceuta \u2014 where it said an estimated 2,500 remained as of Monday \u2014 the government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez backs a more open approach to migration than most of its EU counterparts.<\/p>\n
Countries pushing a harder line are led most vocally by Italy \u2014 whose Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has attacked Madrid\u2019s stance, and specifically a recent push to grant legal status to undocumented migrants already in the country.<\/p>\n
Both Italy and Denmark last week advocated suspending Spain from the Schengen free-travel area over the Ceuta crisis \u2014 a notion firmly rejected by Madrid, and which in any case is legally impossible under EU rules.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Letter war \u2013<\/p>\n
In a letter to the heads of the EU\u2019s institutions Saturday, Sanchez accused fellow EU countries of having \u201cselfish\u201d attitudes and called for emergency talks to work on a \u201ccommon response\u201d to such incidents.<\/p>\n
Within hours, 22 countries led by Italy, Denmark, Germany and Hungary sent a counter-letter also demanding urgent talks, but with a different goal: to continue pressing their tough stance on immigration.<\/p>\n
In a taste of what to expect, preparatory talks among the bloc\u2019s EU ambassadors on Monday saw Spain\u2019s envoy voice \u201cfrustration\u201d with a perceived lack of support from fellow capitals, according to one EU diplomat.<\/p>\n
Conversely \u2014 while all assured Madrid of their \u201csolidarity\u201d \u2014 some member states \u201care asking themselves if recent policies adopted by Spain have not sent the signal that the doors are open\u201d, added the diplomat.<\/p>\n
The EU has significantly tightened its migration rules in recent months, including by allowing member states to send failed asylum seekers to so-called \u201creturn hubs\u201d located outside the bloc\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n
Italy was expected Tuesday to renew its push for the EU to set up such hubs in various African countries, on the model of an existing deal between Rome and Albania.<\/p>\n
Rwanda and Uganda are among a dozen nations that have been scouted as potential partners to host such centres.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand Spain\u2019s frustration with its failed migration policy, but we have a duty to protect Italy\u2019s borders,\u201d Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened in Ceuta is not a minor incident; it poses a risk to the entire union.\u201d<\/p>\n
EU heavyweight France has distanced itself from the 22-country initiative, saying it amounted to exploiting the situation in Ceuta for political ends.<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has commended Sanchez\u2019s \u201cswift handling\u201d of the crisis, welcoming Tuesday\u2019s talks as a first step towards forging a \u201ccommon European response\u201d.<\/p>\n
The commission chief has urged the bloc to \u201cdouble down\u201d in five areas: preventing irregular migration in the first place via cooperation with partner states; strengthening external borders; implementing early warning systems; dismantling smuggling networks and reinforcing returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain\u2019s interior minister headed into a tense face-off with EU counterparts on Tuesday, as the bloc sought to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1150,6380,17],"class_list":["post-65835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-international","tag-mna","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}