Ceuta, the border with Spain and repatriations from Germany: Piantedosi’s hearing

The case of Ceuta is not ‘political speculation against Spain. This is not the logic driving this government, whose sole objective is the protection of national security’. So said Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi during a hearing before the Schengen Committee. “This is why,” he continued, “we are closely monitoring how the situation develops and, as already announced by the government, the decision to suspend the application of the Schengen Agreement will not be reviewed before 15 August, and in any case only once security risks to Italy have been completely ruled out.” Despite the repatriations carried out by Spain in recent days, “there are still at least 6,000 people remaining in the exclave of Ceuta (although some sources put the figure at over 11,000), predominantly sub-Saharan Africans, for whom – as the Minister for the Interior stated – neither readmission nor return to Morocco would appear to be feasible, and who constitute a source of objective pressure on the European mainland, the final destination sought by the migrants. This figure – according to Piantedosi – is even more worrying when we consider the unaccompanied foreign minors, who number over 1,300 and cannot be repatriated”. Furthermore, “since the reinstatement of border controls with Spain, we have made three arrests and turned back 21 third-country nationals – six of whom were Moroccan – on the grounds that they were entering illegally”. 

“The information shared has highlighted the existence of high internal security risks relating to possible uncontrolled and sudden movements of third-country nationals through the common area, which, as such, do not rule out potential terrorist infiltration within migration flows,” said Piantedosi. According to him, various sources indicate that certain areas of Morocco, including those near Ceuta, “have historically been subject to recruitment and radicalisation by jihadists”. “The exceptional nature of this situation has required immediate government action to safeguard internal security, through the temporary reintroduction of internal border controls with the Kingdom of Spain, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/399, known as the Schengen Borders Code,” he continued. 

On the suspension of the Schengen Agreement with Spain, “what the government has chosen to do is fully in line with European law”, he explained. “Other European states have done so and continue to do so, including in relation to Italy. I am not aware of any concerns being raised or requests for further clarification in those circumstances.” The minister therefore emphasised that "whilst Italy’s initiative is based on solid, objective grounds and control measures, the suspension imposed on us by the authorities in Madrid amounts, by their own admission, to a largely retaliatory measure". Moreover, "the temporary reintroduction of internal border controls has been implemented hundreds of times over the years by European countries: Spain itself has resorted to it 22 times since 2009, just as certain other countries have done in relation to Italy or other partners". 

"Together with Germany and France, we have suspended the quotas for so-called ‘Dublin cases’ until the EU Migration and Asylum Pact comes into force on 12 June," said Piantedosi. “I have already made it clear to my German counterpart that we will not accept cases reported in the news that predate that date. And that, in any event, from that date onwards, we will offset this with the thousands of migrants being brought to our shores by German NGO ships: 2,200 since the start of the year and more than 500 since 12 June alone. “We have accepted that the responsibility of the countries of first entry should not be waived,” Piantedosi noted, “but we are confident that the number of potential ‘Dublin cases’ will continue to fall, as we work to ensure that fewer and fewer irregular migrants arrive in Italy and Europe.”

Piantedosi then once again defended the policies implemented by the Meloni government on immigration. “Since the start of the year, landings in Italy have fallen by 55 per cent compared with 2025, and if we compare the landings in the first seven months of 2023 – the start of the parliamentary term – with the same period this year, the figures have plummeted by 82 per cent. In 2026, in essence, around 17,000 people arrived, which is less than a quarter of those who reached Ceuta in two days,” she said. Shortly before the hearing began, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni shared a video on social media showing irregular migrants being put on a plane by the police. "Deportation operations for irregular migrants on Italian soil are continuing," Meloni wrote. "Border defence, security, respect for the rules: we will continue straight down this path."