Spain’s foreign minister has accused fellow European Union governments of amplifying false information about the mass migrant crossing into Ceuta.
José Manuel Albares made the charge on September 2 as he arrived at the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Wicklow, Ireland. He said Europeans could not allow disinformation guided by EU governments to seep into their societies.
Albares did not name the government he had in mind. Italy, Denmark, Germany and Hungary were among the 22 member states that signed a letter of August 1 criticising Spanish migration policy.
He linked the accusation to the hybrid threats facing European countries, arguing that actors outside the bloc were seeking to divide Europeans in order to weaken them.
Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner said in August that the influx had been driven by smuggling networks and by disinformation on social media, and EU interior ministers agreed on August 4 to develop early-warning tools including the monitoring of social media.
The minister also asked partners to treat Ceuta and Melilla with the same solidarity Spain has shown at other European frontiers. He said the EU’s southern land borders mattered as much as those to the east or the north.
Albares listed Belarus’s use of migration in 2021, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, migratory pressure on Italy at Lampedusa in 2023 and recent tensions over Greenland as occasions when Madrid had backed its partners.
He cited Spain’s support for Germany on September 1, after Berlin blamed Russia for the attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in August.
Albares asked for financial as well as political solidarity in the negotiations on the EU’s next long-term budget, which runs from 2028 to 2034. Ceuta and Melilla form the bloc’s only land border with Africa and that should weigh in how resources are shared out, he said.
His remarks came on Ceuta Day, the city’s annual holiday. The Spanish federation of municipalities has called rallies outside town halls at 8pm, with more than 300 gatherings listed across 46 provinces.
Spain’s interior ministry has put at some 72,000 the number of people who entered irregularly in the final days of July, most of them returned to Morocco within days. At least 72 died on the Spanish side, most of them by drowning near the Tarajal breakwater.
Italy suspended its Schengen arrangements with Spain for August and the Spanish Government responded with checks on arrivals from Italy. Neither capital has treated the dispute as closed.
