Spain Italy border controls dispute

Spain threatened on Friday to impose reciprocal measures on travellers from Italy unless Rome lifts by Sunday the border controls it imposed last week following a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Spain — Ceuta. The Spanish government called Italy's decision to reintroduce checks on arrivals from Spain 'unjustified, contrary to the interests of the European Union and discriminatory against the Spanish population'. Italy, which does not share a land border with Spain, justified its decision to partially suspend the EU's border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain to prevent any of the migrants who entered Spain — Ceuta from travelling on to Italy. Madrid said the Italian move was based on 'spurious arguments' because the migrants who entered Spain — Ceuta irregularly could not gain access to the Schengen area, and most had already returned to Morocco. The dispute highlights differing migration policies between the two EU allies, with Italy's conservative prime minister Giorgia Meloni advocating tighter controls and Spain's Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez defending a more liberal approach. About 80 migrants reportedly died as 72,000 people rushed to cross the border.