Italy and Spain lift border controls after months of tension over Ceuta
More than 70,000 people entered Ceuta irregularly from Morocco, triggering border security concerns in the EU bloc.
Italy and Spain have agreed to lift border controls on each other’s citizens, ending a three-month standoff triggered after a mass surge of migrants and asylum seekers entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
The Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and his Spanish counterpart Fernando Grande-Marlaska spoke on the phone and agreed not to extend their suspension of the European Union’s open-border Schengen arrangements, an Italian statement said on Thursday.
“The decision, reached after a careful assessment of the situation, will be accompanied by enhanced information-sharing measures to ensure the full security of the common Schengen area,” the ministry added.
The tit-for-tat border closures happened after upwards of 70,000 people swam around barricades and entered Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco on July 30 and 31, fuelling tension in the Spanish territory.