Italy has announced it is suspending the European Union’s border-free Schengen agreement with Spain for one month, in response to the unprecedented migrant surge at Spain’s Ceuta border.
An official announcement from Rome said the decision would have no negative impact on Spanish and other EU citizens travelling to Italy. But certain restrictions and checks will be carried out on non-EU citizens entering Italy from Spain by air or sea.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that the emergency measure had been taken to protect national security and prevent possible negative effects inside the country. She added that, with minimal impact on summer tourist movement in mind, the measure would be kept in place only for as long as necessary.
Although Italy has no land border with Spain, Rome has also reached an understanding with Paris to strengthen security at the French-Italian border to stop irregular migrants entering the country. Earlier, though more than 50,000 people entered Spain’s Ceuta enclave from neighbouring Morocco, Spain said most of them later returned voluntarily to Morocco.
Critics have called the Italian right-wing government’s step largely symbolic and politically motivated. They argue that the migrants who reached Ceuta had no interest or intention of heading towards Italy.
Giorgia Meloni’s coalition government, which took power in 2022 promising to cut illegal immigration, is now under intense political pressure from a new far-right party led by former army chief Roberto Vannacci. As Vannacci’s anti-immigration rhetoric grows among a section of voters, the government is seeking to harden its stance on security matters.
Pierre De Luca, a senior lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party, criticised the government’s move, calling it a populist measure taken mainly for domestic politics and to please the public — one that solves no real problem and instead worsens relations with Spain.
Under the Schengen agreement, citizens of 29 European countries can move freely without passports. But any member state can temporarily reinstate border controls in the interest of security or public order.
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