Italy has temporarily suspended free movement with Spain over the Ceuta migration crisis.
Last night, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country will activate border controls, defending the measure as necessary to ‘safeguard national security.’
It means travellers entering Italy from Spain will be required to show their documents and be treated as if they were arriving from a non-EU country.
‘The Government has decided to temporarily suspend the free movement regime provided for by Schengen at the maritime and air borders with Spain, reintroducing border controls,’ Meloni said.
She said that ‘this is an extraordinary measure’ adopted by Rome ‘to safeguard national security’ and prevent ‘potential repercussions’ for her country.
‘The measure will remain in effect only for as long as necessary, with particular attention to limiting any impact on summer tourism,’ she said.
Meloni emphasised that Italy ‘is ready to support any European initiative to back the Spanish institutions that is necessary to restore full control of the Union’s external borders and to decisively address the current situation.’
‘Defending borders means defending the security of citizens, combating irregular immigration, and striking at the criminal networks that traffic in human beings,’ she concluded.
Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares assured that the ‘integrity’ of the Schengen Area was already ‘guaranteed’.
In a message posted on X, Albares asserted that ‘it is not possible to travel from Ceuta and Melilla to the Peninsula without identifying oneself at a police checkpoint… Enough of this deliberate confusion.’
