Italy has begun pressing European Union institutions for a formal rebuke of Spain’s mass regularisation of undocumented migrants, sources familiar with Rome’s strategy have said. The aim is a written expression of concern from the European Commission and from a majority of member states.
The push followed an emergency videoconference of EU interior ministers on August 4, called after the mass crossing into Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the north African coast. The meeting was convened at the request of Italy and Denmark, the same sources said.
Spanish interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska spoke first and defended the return to Morocco of almost all those who entered the enclave. He complained of a lack of solidarity from other European governments and singled out Italy’s suspension of Schengen free movement at its ports and airports.
Italy maintains that the regularisation acted as a pull factor for the crossings. Grande-Marlaska rejected that reading and has sought to keep the two questions apart, fearing a censure of the policy by Brussels and by other capitals.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner formally separated the Ceuta crisis from the decree. He nonetheless left the impression that a scheme of that scale, adopted without prior notice to other capitals, was not an encouraging signal for European migration policy.
The Spanish Government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez approved the extraordinary regularisation by royal decree in January and opened applications in April. Ministers had expected between 400,000 and 500,000 applicants, yet more than 1.3 million people applied before the June 30 deadline.
Twenty-two member states led by Italy and Denmark had earlier signed a joint letter urging a coordinated response and warning against policies capable of acting as “pull factors”. Finnish interior minister Mari Rantanen wrote that Spain had “completely failed to protect the external border”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni raised the regularisation with Sánchez at a European Council meeting in June. Rome now hopes northern member states, Germany included, will back a formal criticism of the decree.
Madrid denies any connection between the two matters. Spain’s foreign ministry has said the Ceuta crossings stemmed from an interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling that criminal networks exploited.
