A mass crossing into Spain’s North African enclave has intensified criticism of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s immigration policies and given right-leaning parties across Europe a major campaign issue heading into elections in Spain, Italy and France.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A large influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has exposed widening divisions within the European Union over immigration enforcement, border security and the legalization of people living in Europe illegally.
Tens of thousands of migrants crossed from Morocco into Ceuta last week, overwhelming the small coastal territory located on the North African side of the Strait of Gibraltar. Ceuta, which has been under Spanish rule since 1580, sits on a narrow peninsula and represents the only location where a land border of the European Union directly meets Africa.
PBS reported that as many as 60,000 people entered Spanish territory illegally during the crisis and that at least 57 migrants died while attempting the journey.
Rather than offering Spain unified political support, more than 20 European leaders criticized the immigration policies of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, arguing that his government has created incentives for additional illegal migration.
Although governments attending an emergency EU meeting Tuesday later softened their public criticism and praised Spain for quickly returning most of the migrants to Morocco, the crisis revealed deep disagreements over how Europe should respond to mass border crossings.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government went further than most, blaming Sánchez’s left-wing administration for policies it said encouraged the crisis. Italy temporarily suspended its participation in parts of the Schengen Area, the passport-free travel system regarded as one of the European Union’s central achievements.
The confrontation comes as Spain, Italy and France prepare for national elections next year. Conservative and populist parties in each country are using the Ceuta crisis to argue that Europe needs tougher border controls, fewer legalization programs and stronger measures to deter illegal entry.
Spain has increasingly stood apart from other major European governments on immigration. While countries such as Italy, Germany and France have tightened border enforcement and reconsidered asylum rules, Sánchez announced a plan earlier this year that could grant legal status to as many as 500,000 people.
The number would amount to approximately 1% of Spain’s population. The initiative generated a domestic backlash and prompted warnings from other European governments that the legalization plan could encourage more migrants to attempt entering the continent.
“Some say we’re going too far, that we’re going against the current,” Sánchez said when defending the policy. “When did recognizing human rights become something radical?”
His position contrasted with the broader direction of European immigration policy. Governments in France, Germany and Italy have been increasing border patrols and reducing asylum access, while also financing programs intended to discourage migration from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Critics of Sánchez said Spain’s legalization initiative created a “pull factor” by signaling that illegal entry could eventually result in legal residence. They argued that the policy weakened coordinated European efforts to prevent the uncontrolled mass crossings that have characterized migration routes from Africa.
Italy became the most outspoken opponent of Spain’s approach.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani linked the Ceuta crisis directly to the Spanish government’s legalization plans and warned that uncontrolled immigration threatens national security.
“Irregular and uncontrolled immigration poses a danger to national security. The images coming from Ceuta show how the Madrid Government’s decision to grant Spanish, and therefore European, citizenship to over 500,000 irregular immigrants is profoundly wrong and encourages human trafficking,” Tajani said.
Meloni’s government temporarily halted unrestricted air and sea travel between Italy and Spain on Friday because of concerns that Madrid was not adequately controlling migrant movements.
The Schengen Agreement normally permits travel across 29 participating European countries without internal passport checks. France also mobilized police and military personnel to conduct inspections along its border with Spain.
Meloni and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen led a coalition of 22 European leaders in sending a letter to the European Commission condemning policies they said attracted illegal migration and endangered the broader bloc.
“[W]e have a duty to effectively deter and relentlessly combat illegal migration, by coordinating our action, strengthening our external borders and addressing all policies that can serve as pull factors, such as the regularization of a very large number of irregular migrants,” the European leaders wrote.
“We cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings, the instrumentalization of migration or other hybrid threats to create the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible. That a migrant’s illegal entry can turn into a legal stay,” they added.
The dispute has strengthened the political position of parties campaigning against Sánchez in Spain.
The governing Socialist Workers’ Party is trailing a possible alliance between the conservative People’s Party and the right-wing populist Vox party. Sánchez has remained in office since 2023 despite receiving fewer votes than the People’s Party because the PP and Vox fell just short of the parliamentary majority needed to form a government.
Both opposition parties are preparing for another attempt to remove Sánchez in next year’s election.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal traveled to Ceuta during the crisis and called for Spain’s borders to be militarized.
Abascal characterized the mass crossing as an “invasion” and said Sánchez should be imprisoned for his handling of the emergency.
The crisis is also shaping political campaigns in France.
Jordan Bardella, leader of the National Rally party and a member of the European Parliament, accused Sánchez’s government of exposing the rest of the continent to the consequences of Spain’s legalization policy.
“By regularizing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, the socialist prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has opened the doors of Europe,” Bardella said.
National Rally’s longtime presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, is expected to compete next year to succeed French President Emmanuel Macron. The first televised debate of the campaign is scheduled for later this month.
“In 2027, we will stop this madness by reserving Schengen free movement for EU nationals,” Le Pen wrote on Facebook.
Her proposal would restrict the Schengen system so that passport-free movement applied only to citizens of European Union countries rather than all legally present travelers.
Meloni will also face voters next year after making immigration enforcement a central promise of her 2022 campaign.
Her government has pursued policies intended to reduce illegal arrivals in Italy and has repeatedly pressed the European Union to strengthen its external borders. Those efforts helped elevate Meloni’s party to the top of the Italian polls and remain central to her political standing.
Meloni has maintained an unusually stable coalition among Italy’s right-leaning parties and has become the country’s second-longest-serving prime minister.
The Ceuta crisis now gives Meloni and other conservative leaders a highly visible example to support their argument that legalization programs and permissive asylum policies encourage additional migration.
For Sánchez, the episode has increased pressure from both domestic opponents and European allies who say Spain’s decisions affect the entire passport-free travel zone.
The mass crossing has therefore developed into more than a border emergency. It has become a defining test of whether EU governments can maintain a unified immigration policy while individual countries pursue sharply different approaches to legalization, deportation and asylum.
As elections approach in Spain, France and Italy, right-leaning parties are expected to keep the crisis at the center of their campaigns, presenting the events in Ceuta as evidence that Europe must choose between stronger border enforcement and policies they say invite further uncontrolled migration.
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