{"id":1122963,"date":"2026-07-31T22:45:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1122963\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T22:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:45:27","slug":"mass-sea-crossings-to-spains-ceuta-enclave-prompt-eu-anti-migrant-panic-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1122963\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass sea crossings to Spain\u2019s Ceuta enclave prompt EU anti-migrant panic \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of migrants breached border barriers or swam into the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta on Thursday (30 July), prompting Madrid to send troops to its North African enclave\u00a0to bolster security and neighbouring EU countries, such as France, to increase border checks.<\/p>\n

Arrivals from Morocco, just over the border, were estimated to be at least 50,000 in a few days<\/a>, but a continuous flow has made it hard to keep a consistent count.\u00a0The immigrants are almost entirely of Moroccan nationality, most of whom are young people.<\/p>\n

According to local authorities, at least 57 died while trying to reach Ceuta, with deaths attributed to drownings and a stampede near the breakwater fence.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Spanish prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez talked about \u201can attack and a violation\u201d on Spain\u2019s territorial integrity, while swiftly proceeding to return arrivers. By Friday evening, the ministry of the interior declared that 48,300 people had voluntarily returned to Morocco, with under 2000 migrants still in the enclave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe images coming from Ceuta are unacceptable\u2026 Dangerous crossings must stop immediately,\u201d said EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Border security forces had been unable to keep up: \u201cthey\u2019re outnumbered,\u201d said a spokesperson for No Name Kitchen (NNK<\/a>), one of the few humanitarian groups to have established themselves in the small autonomous city since its first surge of migrant arrivals in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s many more migrants arriving than there are military personnel at the moment,\u201d she told EUobserver. \u201cThey keep coming in, it\u2019s not slowing down.\u201d<\/p>\n

“In response to the situation observed in the Ceuta enclave, I gave instructions as of last night to immediately strengthen the controls at the Spanish border. Furthermore, I am activating the Rapid Intervention Border Force for in-depth checks,” said French interior minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez.<\/p>\n

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni called<\/a> for \u201cthe suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain,\u201d joining a chorus of right-wing leaders in
Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic backing Spain’s removal from the free-movement zone.<\/p>\n

Meloni later suspended Italy’s Schengen agreement with Spain on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson also called on the Spanish government “to regain control of the situation and fulfil its commitments within Schengen cooperation”. If the crisis in Ceuta should affect Sweden’s security, Kristersson said Stockholm was ready to take measures.<\/p>\n

Far-right French leader Marine Le Pen chimed in, vowing<\/a>: \u201cIn 2027, we will stop this madness and reserve the free movement in Schengen to EU nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The European Commission said it is in contact with Spanish and Moroccan authorities. <\/p>\n

Brussels has described Morocco as “a key and trusted partner of the EU,” noting that cooperation on migration and anti-smuggling<\/a> has intensified. The EU is now working to upgrade the relationship into a comprehensive and strategic partnership.<\/p>\n

The commission also dismissed concerns of closing Spain’s Schengen borders since there had yet been “no onward movements to mainland Spain or the European Union,” with a commission official telling the press on Friday that the Ceuta issue won’t spill over into the bloc since the Ceuta-EU border is “Spain’s responsibility.”<\/p>\n

Morocco is one of the countries included in the EU’s ‘safe countries’ list<\/a>, meaning that Moroccan nationals won’t be considered high-priority asylum applicants, and thus have little chances of acquiring legal status in Ceuta.<\/p>\n

“We are in close contact with the Moroccan authorities,” the commission official added, expressing the need to continue collaborating along the border in upcoming weeks to ensure the phenomenon doesn’t repeat itself.<\/p>\n

Madrid’s Supreme Court ruling<\/p>\n

The Spanish authorities have since deployed the military to the coastal city of 83,500 residents. The leader of Ceuta’s government, Juan Jes\u00fas Vivas, told journalists that the situation was one of “absolute chaos,” with reception facilities overwhelmed, and called for a national state of emergency to be declared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands of migrants breached border barriers or swam into the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1122964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[217083,2000,299,5187,219419,221891,232713,221889,219417,232711,221890,219418,232712],"class_list":["post-1122963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-typedefinedterm","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-identifier23","tag-identifier26","tag-identifier4279","tag-nameafrica","tag-namemigration","tag-namespain","tag-termcodeafrica","tag-termcodemigration","tag-termcodespain"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117017021361168662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1122963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1122964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1122963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1122963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1122963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}