Politics
the note •
Schengen agreement reinstated between Italy and Spain
The two governments have decided not to extend border controls any further. The suspension of the treaty had been decided following the migration crisis in Ceuta. The decision came after a meeting between Meloni and Sánchez last week at the European Council.
22 OCT 26
Last updated: 09:26 AM
Translated by AI
After more than two months, border controls between Italy and Spain will be lifted. The Ministry of the Interior has announced that the Italian and Spanish Ministers of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi and Fernando Grande-Marlaska, have agreed not to extend the Schengen suspensions currently in force in the two countries any further. The telephone conversation between the two, which took place today, follows a meeting between Giorgia Meloni and Pedro Sánchez on the sidelines of last week’s European Council.
As the Ministry of the Interior explains in a statement, the decision will be accompanied by an enhancement of information sharing to ensure the full security of the Schengen area. “The Spanish government has decided not to extend the border controls reinstated last August for flights and ferry services from Italy, a country which will also be ending its own controls,” the Spanish Ministry of the Interior stated in a press release.
The latest extension of maritime and air border controls at the borders with Italy, decided by Madrid in response to the measure adopted by Rome, was due to expire today, 22 October.
On 16 October, the Italian government decided to extend the restrictions on travel to and from Spain by just seven days, in order to coordinate their lifting with Madrid and usher in a new phase of bilateral cooperation.
The crisis erupted between 30 and 31 July, when between 70,000 and 80,000 people arrived on the beaches of Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in North Africa, from Morocco. On 1 August, Rome reinstated temporary checks on third-country nationals arriving from Spain by air and sea, justifying the decision on the grounds of risks to internal security and possible terrorist infiltration. Madrid responded on 8 August with similar checks on travellers arriving from Italy, citing the migratory pressure affecting the country. The measures, initially intended to be temporary, have since been extended several times and remain in place to this day.