Spain fires back at Italy over border entry checks

Spain imposed reciprocal entry checks on Saturday on people traveling from fellow EU and NATO member Italy – in response to border controls introduced by Rome following a massive influx of migrants into Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco.

The border controls on Italy, which are in response to the persistent irregular migratory pressure affecting the trans-alpine country, will be in effect from midnight ‌Saturday until September 7, the Spanish Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Border agents will check passports, nationality, and visas for Italian passengers and visitors from other countries arriving from Italy.

Around 72,000 people illegally entered Ceuta last week in a matter of hours, reigniting fears of a new migrant crisis in Europe. Although the majority have since been sent back, between 3,000 and 5,000 migrants remain on Spanish territory, according to local officials.

The surge came shortly after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea while trying to swim into Ceuta or Melilla could not be immediately deported. According to Reuters, migrants were also encouraged by misleading viral videos on social media.

Several EU leaders responded to the incident by calling for Spain to be excluded from the bloc’s Schengen border-less travel zone. On August 1, Italy introduced temporary border controls on travelers arriving from Spain.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the measure was adopted to safeguard national security and prevent possible repercussions.

On Friday, the Spanish government slammed the decision as unfair and discriminatory and called on Rome to treat Spaniards in the same way as other European citizens.

If it fails to do so by the end of Sunday, August 9, Spain will be forced to adopt proportionate measures to protect the interests and dignity of its citizens, the government said in a statement on its website.

It argued that Ceuta’s special status prevents irregular migrants from freely entering the Schengen Area, while Spain has in the past taken in some of the migrants who arrived on Italian shores or were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea.

The dispute highlights the rift between Meloni’s center-right government and the left-wing government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Meloni has cultivated a warm relationship with US President Donald Trump, who in recent years has heavily criticized Sanchez for refusing to raise Spain’s defense spending to 5% of GDP and for being a vocal opponent of Trump’s war with Iran.

Under Sanchez, Spain has also frequently criticized the Zionist US ally Israel over its war in Gaza and recognized Palestinian statehood in 2024. Last week, the US State Department argued that the crisis in Ceuta was caused by Spain’s “deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe?”

What happened in the North African Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week was tragic for everyone involved. So let’s make it a regular thing, the EU apparently decided – at least judging by its actions.

In fact, Ursula von der Leyen has said that she wants more barriers and watchful eyes on the borders. By barriers, presumably she means walls or fences.

And by eyes, she probably means nightclub-style bouncers with biceps the size of my thighs and not neighborhood block watch grannies. Not that she’s going to say that. Although she should. If only to counter all the virtue signaling that Spain did that contributed to the problem in the first place.

From 2014 to 2022, the EU paid Rabat €2.1 billion to stem migration to the EU, plus another €631 million in 2021/2022 alone. Losing total control – or pretending to – seems to be a convenient way to get a raise.

It’s like a lifeguard who lets everyone drown and then goes and asks for a performance bonus. Or a security company that gets paid more for a spike in break-ins. Or a firefighter who bills extra for every house that catches fire on their watch.

Türkiye already did this hostage routine with Brussels. In the wake of conflicts in Syria and Libya, the EU paid Ankara to hold back migrants from Europe’s borders. And what do you know – it never turned out to be enough.

The tsunami seemed to ebb and flow in rhythm with the ink spilled in Brussels on checks to Team Erdogan.

Speaking of Libya – it’s been paid for the EU’s border outsourcing, too. As have Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of the Horn of Africa, like Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.

Meanwhile, Spain is being treated like the sole author of this mess, as if this entire surge just spontaneously generated the moment a legal ruling changed deportation procedures.

And yes, that ruling mattered because it altered incentives. As did Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s amnesty offer – with a reported million applicants showing interest so far.

And with all the disinformation fighting tools that the EU boasts about, how did this massive whale actually succeed in beaching itself onto a piece of Europe while the EU’s entire anti-disinformation fleet was patrolling the waters?

Guess it’s a pretty good sign that the whale wasn’t Russian, huh? Because the world’s most sophisticated whale-watchers would have already mapped its migration patterns.

It raises a question that no one in official statements really seems too keen to ask aloud: who benefits from the chaos? Not Spain, clearly. Not the EU, judging from how unenthusiastic it sounds about it.

But Israel and the USA sure have been upset with Spain’s position opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza and war in Iran. But upset enough to have funded NGO’s to “give away” Spain’s enclave in North Africa, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son once threatened on social media back in 2019?

In any case, now Spain is relegated to begging nation-states to control their own citizens. Not exactly a position of strength.

But once that amnesty signal is out there, then unfortunately you don’t get to choose who accepts it, which hidden powers could decide to exploit it in an attempt to pressure you, or how many show up to camp out in your tranquil EU garden and flatten your flowerbeds.

Including those caught between the EU and the countries it keeps paying to role-play as its contracted security guards.

RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2026.