Italy has extended its suspension of Schengen free movement with Spain by a further 15 days, keeping identity checks on air and sea arrivals in place a month after the mass crossing into the north African enclave of Ceuta.
The Italian interior ministry said the assessment that led to the controls on August 1 remained valid. It also pointed to steps taken by Spain and the European Union that could return the situation in the enclave to normality.
Interior minister Matteo Piantedosi informed his Spanish counterpart Fernando Grande-Marlaska of the decision in a telephone call the ministry described as constructive. Rome must notify the European Commission of any prolongation under the Schengen Borders Code.
Madrid answered within hours. The Spanish Government, which turned its own border controls on Italy rather than on Morocco on August 8, extended its checks on passengers arriving from Italy by sea and air until September 21.
Foreign minister Antonio Tajani called the extension the right call and said full free movement should resume once the conditions genuinely allowed it. He described the measure as provisional and aimed at keeping out infiltration, starting with the jihadist kind.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the Italian controls made no sense. In a radio interview he recalled that Spain had helped Italy take in migrants who reached the island of Lampedusa and argued that frontline states needed solidarity from northern and central Europe.
Sánchez also criticised a letter signed by 22 of the 27 member states questioning Spanish migration policy. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was among the signatories.
About 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta on July 30, according to figures Grande-Marlaska gave on August 4. Spanish authorities say between 5,000 and 8,000 of them are still in the city.
Piantedosi said before the deadline that the situation in Ceuta was anything but improved. Italian officials say the checks apply only to third-country nationals and leave Italians, Spaniards and other Europeans untouched.
Home affairs commissioner Magnus Brunner wrote on July 31: “Not a single person has crossed to mainland EU.” The Commission has still not ruled on whether either set of controls is necessary and proportionate.
Nine member states had internal controls running when the Commission urged them in June to wind the measures down. Ceuta itself lies outside the Schengen area.
