According to José Manuel Albares, “the Italian government has not risen to the challenge on migrants”. The Ministry of the Interior’s response: “From January this year to the present day, there has been a sharp fall in the number of irregular migrant arrivals, achieved precisely thanks to the government’s policies. And there has been no ‘invasion’ in Lampedusa”

The crisis has reignited the tensions caused by the demographic issue. The need for sound policy and a cultural and psychological battle. Consideration should be given to a European agency for migrants

The initiative was launched jointly with Denmark and endorsed by 22 countries: “We are deeply concerned about recent developments at the EU’s external border in Ceuta. We are determined to prevent human traffickers from undermining the integrity of the external borders.”

“The centre-left has become something else entirely: if you were to take the Olive Tree coalition’s 1996 manifesto, today it would seem like blasphemy to a broad coalition influenced by the extremes. The same applies to the right: the former general is incompatible with liberal values,” says the MP. “In Ceuta, we are witnessing Morocco’s blackmail in action.”

Amid the chaos in Spain (60,000 arrivals, 48,000 already returned), two forms of demagoguery are emerging: the self-defeating stance of closure (‘what if this happened to us?’), and the folly of denial (‘problems aren’t solved: they’re denied’). But there is a solution: more Europe

“What happened in Ceuta is clearly an organised exodus aimed at putting pressure on the government in Madrid,” says the former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and magistrate. On the subject of security: “On an issue such as this, it would be good if the majority and the opposition could find some common ground.”

Ceuta is the perfect symbol of the politics of fear. Trump uses it against the Democrats, whilst MAGA supporters use it against Europe. But it is Morocco that lies at the heart of the American geopolitical game