Spain answers Italy with temporary border checks

Spain has introduced temporary border controls for travellers arriving from Italy, escalating a migration dispute between Madrid and Rome after Italy tightened checks on arrivals from Spain following the mass crossing of migrants into Ceuta.

The Spanish Interior Ministry said the controls would take effect from midnight on Saturday and remain in place until September 7. The measure applies to arrivals from Italy and mirrors controls imposed by Rome after tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into Spain’s North African territory of Ceuta on July 30 and 31.

Madrid described its action as proportionate and linked it to what it called persistent irregular migration pressure facing Italy. The decision followed Spain’s demand that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government withdraw controls introduced against people travelling from Spain, which Madrid has criticised as unjustified and discriminatory.

Italy has rejected the Spanish demand and said its restrictions will remain until authorities are satisfied that migration and security risks have eased. Rome introduced checks on July 31 for non-EU nationals arriving from Spain by air and sea, initially announcing the controls for one month. Spanish and other European Union citizens were not formally targeted by the Italian measure.

The diplomatic confrontation has widened into an unusually sharp dispute between two major EU and NATO members whose governments hold contrasting approaches to migration. Spain’s Socialist-led administration under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has accused Rome of exploiting the Ceuta emergency for domestic political purposes, while Meloni has argued that governments have a responsibility to act when uncontrolled migration could affect national security.

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares called Italy’s move damaging to European unity and demanded equal treatment for Spanish citizens. Madrid initially threatened countermeasures unless Rome reconsidered its position. Meloni’s office responded that Italy would not accept foreign ultimatums on questions involving national security and border management.

Italian authorities have cited concerns about another possible attempt by migrants to enter Ceuta around August 15. Calls circulating online have been monitored by Spanish security forces, although authorities have not confirmed that another crossing on the scale witnessed at the end of July is expected. Italy has said its controls could be reconsidered once it is confident that no new migration wave or related security threat is developing.

The confrontation stems from an extraordinary influx into Ceuta, where Spanish authorities say about 72,000 people entered from Morocco during the crisis. Roughly 70,000 subsequently returned to Morocco. Hundreds of unaccompanied children remained in the territory, adding pressure on accommodation, food supplies and other emergency services. Spanish authorities reported at least 80 deaths during the crossings, while rights organisations have put the toll considerably higher.

Ceuta’s status has complicated the political arguments surrounding Italy’s response. Although the territory belongs to Spain, it sits on the North African coast and operates under special border arrangements. People entering Ceuta irregularly cannot simply travel onwards into mainland Europe without passing additional controls.

Madrid has therefore argued that Italy’s justification lacks a firm factual basis because migrants entering Ceuta without authorisation do not automatically gain access to the passport-free Schengen zone. There has also been no publicly established movement of those migrants towards Italy.

Italy nevertheless maintains that additional precautions are justified. Rome has also worked with France to strengthen monitoring along the Franco-Italian frontier, reflecting broader concern among European governments about secondary movements of undocumented migrants across internal borders.

The Schengen system normally allows passport-free movement among 29 European countries, making restrictions between participating states exceptional. Governments may temporarily restore internal border checks when they identify serious threats to public policy or internal security, but such measures are expected to be limited, justified and proportionate.

Several Schengen members already maintain temporary controls on parts of their borders because of migration, terrorism, organised crime and wider security concerns. France, Germany, Austria, Sweden and other countries have used provisions allowing internal checks, highlighting growing pressure on a system originally designed to make movement between participating European states largely frictionless.

The Spain-Italy dispute, however, carries added political significance because the measures are directly reciprocal. Rome framed its controls as protection against possible consequences of the Ceuta influx, while Madrid’s decision effectively places comparable restrictions on travellers coming from Italy.

The quarrel also reflects a wider ideological divide over European migration policy. Meloni has championed tougher external border enforcement and measures intended to reduce irregular arrivals. Sánchez has taken a different approach, defending migration’s economic role while supporting legal pathways and regularisation for qualifying undocumented residents.