Spain and Italy at loggerheads over Schengen

Summer ultimatum. The Spanish government will adopt “proportionate measures” if Italy does not fully reinstate the Schengen Agreement by Sunday. However, the Italian government appears unwilling to change its stance and has responded firmly to Pedro Sánchez’s request. “Italy does not accept ultimatums or impositions from abroad regarding national security and border control,” Palazzo Chigi stated in a press release. 

This morning, Madrid issued an official statement describing the Italian decision as “unfair, contrary to the interests of the EU and discriminatory towards the Spanish population”, arguing that it had been adopted “without prior notice, unilaterally and on spurious grounds that comply neither with the Schengen Borders Code nor with the truth”. In the statement, Madrid calls on Rome to rectify the situation and put an end to the checks introduced on 1 August, and to “treat Spaniards in the same way as other European citizens”. “If it fails to do so by the end of Sunday 9 August, Spain will be forced to take proportionate measures to protect the interests and dignity of its citizens,” the warning states.

“Under no circumstances do we intend to review the decision to suspend the application of the Schengen Agreement for third-country nationals arriving from Spain, at least until 15 August and in any case until security and terrorism risks to Italy have been completely ruled out,” was Meloni’s response. On that date, as announced by the Spanish authorities themselves, a new wave of migration could occur in Ceuta.

“We have been heavily criticised” over the suspension of Schengen because “if you take action against a socialist government, you simply cannot do so”, commented the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, “but there are around ten countries in Europe that apply this measure, for example France at the Ventimiglia border”. For the time being, there will be no backtracking. “We’ll see after 15 August,” the minister continued, when it will become clear whether the new alert will be confirmed or not. 

The Spanish government disputes the reasoning put forward by Rome, reiterating that migrants who entered Ceuta irregularly last week “could not and cannot enter the Schengen area freely”, as the autonomous city “has a special status within it”. Madrid emphasises that “almost all of them have already entered Morocco”, pointing out that, according to Frontex, Italy is the Member State with the highest number of irregular crossings recorded in recent years, “with figures that have reached double those of Spain”.

The Italian government’s response is unequivocal. “These are measures permitted by the EU treaties as exceptional and extraordinary measures, which must be adopted with due consideration, in a proportionate manner and as a last resort, but which may be delegated to Member States when conditions of potential danger to national security exist. And it is difficult to argue that these conditions do not exist at present,” commented Piantedosi this afternoon, speaking at a Fratelli d’Italia event in Sorrento.

Madrid, on the other hand, maintains that it has never imposed restrictions on Italy, pointing out that it has “always shown solidarity, taking in some of the migrants who arrived in Lampedusa in 2023” and “has repeatedly reopened its ports to migrants rescued on the central Mediterranean route”. The government concludes by stating: “We trust that Europeanism, common sense and good faith will prevail. Governments are called upon to promote understanding between countries and the general interest of their respective populations, not to create divisions and fruitless conflicts fuelled by domestic electoral motives.”