Spain announced on Friday it would introduce temporary border checks on travellers from Italy in response to Rome imposing similar measures after a mass migrant rush into Ceuta.<\/p>\n
The checks, which come \u201camid the persistent irregular migration pressure\u201d facing Italy, will start at midnight on Saturday and last until September 7, Spain\u2019s interior ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Hours earlier, Spain threatened Italy with countermeasures if it did not swiftly lift its own border checks, drawing a rebuff from Rome.<\/p>\n
The rare spat between the European Union and NATO allies came after tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco to Spain\u2019s North African territory on July 30-31 in an unprecedented, deadly rush.<\/p>\n
The scenes infuriated EU members that back a hard line on irregular immigration, including Italy which imposed a one-month suspension of its visa free-travel Schengen deal with Spain.<\/p>\n
The Spanish government slammed the measure Friday as \u201cunfair, contrary to the EU\u2019s interests and discriminatory for the Spanish population\u201d.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares described it as \u201ca torpedo fired at the hull of European unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge the government of Italy to rectify, put an end to the checks and treat Spaniards like other European citizens,\u201d the government said.<\/p>\n
He threatened \u201cproportional measures\u201d in response by Sunday if Italy failed to comply.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Creating rifts\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
Within hours, the government of Italy\u2019s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it \u201chad no intention of revising the decision\u201d before August 15, when it said Spanish authorities \u201cexpected a new wave of migration\u201d to hit Ceuta.<\/p>\n
\u201cItaly does not accept ultimatums or impositions from abroad regarding national security and border control,\u201d Meloni\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly when there is certainty that there are no security or terrorism risks to Italy, that no new wave is occurring, and that no irregular migrants are heading toward European territory, will the decision be reconsidered,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s interior ministry announced the reciprocal measures within hours.<\/p>\n
Spanish police have been monitoring online rumours and social media about possible fresh arrivals in Ceuta in mid-August, according to local media. But authorities have not expressly said they expect a repeat of last week\u2019s rush.<\/p>\n
Border authorities would in the meantime \u201cdo their utmost to ensure maximum ease of movement for Spanish and European citizens\u201d who are not affected by border checks, the Italian statement added.<\/p>\n
Italy, which does not share a land border with Spain, introduced border controls at maritime and air entry points for third-country nationals arriving from the Iberian country.<\/p>\n
The move announced on July 31 was an \u201cextraordinary measure\u201d intended to \u201csafeguard national security and prevent possible repercussions for our nation\u201d, Meloni said at the time.<\/p>\n
She was among EU leaders who called for Spain to be suspended from the visa-free Schengen travel zone after the Ceuta incident, despite such a move being legally impossible.<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s coalition government has sought to stop the tens of thousands of people who land in small boats on the country\u2019s shores each year.<\/p>\n
The Spanish government warned against \u201ccreating rifts and sterile conflicts driven by internal electoral motives\u201d and said \u201cwe trust that pro-European sentiment, common sense and good faith prevail\u201d.<\/p>\n
Of the 72,000 people who entered Ceuta, 70,000 have returned to Morocco, according to official Spanish figures.<\/p>\n
Spanish authorities said 80 people died in the crossings.<\/p>\n
Moroccan rights groups however estimate the figure to be higher. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) and the European Coordination for Human Rights in Morocco on Friday said at least 141 deaths were recorded and that the toll was likely to rise.<\/p>\n
Morocco\u2019s interior ministry has said 11 people died on its side of the border, all but one by drowning.<\/p>\n
Those who remain in Ceuta \u2014 including hundreds of unaccompanied children \u2014 face dire living conditions with little access to food, water, and shelter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain announced on Friday it would introduce temporary border checks on travellers from Italy in response to Rome…\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-67453","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\/67453","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=67453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67453\/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=67453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}