Nearly a month after the influx that shook the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in Morocco (see EUROPE 13921/1), tensions between EU Member States over migration are at their highest. The episode brought divisions over border controls and undocumented migrant regularisation back to the fore, shortly after the New Pact on Migration and Asylum entered into force (see EUROPE 13887/8).
With the situation stabilised, there’s been no movement towards the European mainland. Between 30 and 31 July, nearly 72,000 people illegally crossed the border between Morocco and Ceuta, exploiting failings whose origins are still being examined. However, faced with overwhelmed local services, almost all of them returned to Morocco within 48 hours.
According to the latest estimates, at least 91 people lost their lives during this event: 80 on the Spanish side, and 11 on the Moroccan side.
On 4 August, the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, confirmed that no movement towards mainland Spain or the rest of the Schengen area had been observed.
Thus far, at least 2,000 migrants from the initial group are still believed to be in the enclave. The priority objective remains their “swift return” to Morocco, the Commission indicated on 18 August.
Spain, alone against (almost) everyone. Beyond the potential shortcomings in Schengen’s external border management, what this crisis has revealed above all is the scale of European divisions.
As early as 1 August, no less than 22 Heads of State or Government, led by Italy and Denmark, wrote to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Council António Costa, and Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, calling for a co-ordinated response and a firmer policy towards irregular crossings. They called for any measure likely to create “pull factors” to be rejected, explicitly targeting the regularisation of undocumented migrants carried out by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The signatories also said they were ready to “reinforce or reintroduce” temporary controls at Schengen area internal borders. A threat which was carried out in part the previous day, with Italy introducing a month of controls on air and maritime arrivals from Spain.
An irritated Pedro Sánchez himself sent a letter to Ms von der Leyen, denouncing the “selfish, polarising and unlawful” reaction of countries which had, in his view, chosen “to attack Spain” rather than allowing European solidarity to prevail. Against particularly vehement criticism from Giorgia Meloni, his Italian counterpart, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to point out that Spain had agreed to receive migrants arriving in Lampedusa during the 2023 crisis.
The Spanish authorities also denied any relation to the regularisation of undocumented migrants, arguing that it applied only to persons present before 1 January 2026, and that the application period had ended at the end of June, before the crisis.
It should be noted that France, Portugal, and Luxembourg did not sign the letter from the 22 Member States.
The Commission sets out five priorities to provide reassurance. On 4 August, an exceptional meeting of European interior ministers helped to calm the conflict, at least publicly. According to a diplomatic source, no State took up the idea presented by Giorgia Meloni to exclude Spain from the Schengen area – a scenario that, moreover, would not be legally valid.
According to Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, those ministers present agreed on five political priorities established by Ursula von der Leyen in her reply to Pedro Sánchez: intensifying co-operation with partner countries, notably Morocco; accelerating migrant returns in irregular situations; developing early warnings against disinformation; dismantling smuggling networks; and, more broadly, strengthening external borders. This last point revolves largely around strengthening Frontex, an agency whose new mandate is, appropriately, due to be presented by the end of September.
An informal meeting of ministers is planned for September to address these issues ahead of a strategic debate on migration at the October European Council, a European official specified on Monday 24 August. This will involve going “beyond simple conclusions” and conducting a genuine “strategic dialogue”. (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)