Italy suspends EU Schengen free-travel pact with Spain over Ceuta crisis

Italy has suspended the EU's Schengen border-free arrangements with Spain for one month, requiring passport checks for air and sea travel, in response to a migrant influx in Ceuta.

​Italy said on Friday it was suspending ‌the ​EU's border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain for one month in response to a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco.

Italy does ‌not share a land border with Spain but the measure - which looks certain to anger Madrid - will impact people travelling by plane or boat between the two countries, meaning they will need to show a passport to gain access. Italy's ‌interior ministry said in a statement it had also agreed with Paris to strengthen controls along the Franco-Italian land ‌border to try to prevent any undocumented migrants from crossing.

Critics of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government dismissed the move as a symbolic gesture aimed at a domestic political audience, with no evidence that the migrants in Ceuta had any intention of heading to Italy. The decision ⁠to ​halt the Schengen pact came ⁠after Spain said it had reversed the rush of migrants into its enclave in North Africa, with most of the more than 50,000 ⁠people who had crossed the border heading back voluntarily.

Meloni's coalition, which came to power in 2022 promising to reduce illegal immigration, has ​faced strong pressure from a new far-right party led by former army general Roberto Vannacci, whose anti-migrant rhetoric ⁠has resonated with some voters. With migration once again dominating headlines, the government has sought to demonstrate a tough stance on border security. Centre-left ⁠opponents ​accused it bowing to a populist agenda.

"The problem is that this is a purely demagogic proposal, as usual designed for domestic consumption and to compete with Vannacci, without solving anything at all," said Piero De Luca, a senior ⁠lawmaker with the centre-left Democratic Party. The Schengen Area allows passport-free travel across 29 European countries, although member states ⁠can temporarily reintroduce border controls ⁠on security or public-order grounds.

The Italian interior ministry said border police would carry out "targeted, selective checks" on third-country nationals arriving from Spain to verify that they had the documents ‌needed for travel within ‌the European Union.