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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accused some European allies of mounting a “selfish, polarizing and unlawful” response to the migration crisis in his country's African enclave Ceuta, saying calls to suspend Spain from the Schengen area were fueled by “prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interest.”
Between 50,000 and 60,000 migrants entered Ceuta from neighboring Morocco over the past few days, but the majority have now returned, Spain’s interior ministry said. The death toll had climbed to 67 by Saturday, some drowning and others dying in a stampede near a breakwater, the Spanish government said.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Sánchez said his government had restored control of the border within 48 hours, provided humanitarian assistance and returned “virtually all” of those who crossed irregularly.
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He said Spain had also prevented unauthorized movement toward mainland Europe, working closely with Moroccan authorities but receiving “very little support” from other European countries.
It comes after Italy temporarily reinstated border checks on arrivals from Spain, while officials in Finland and Denmark backed calls to consider suspending Spain from the Schengen area over its handling of the crisis. The reactions came despite Ceuta being surrounded by Morrocan territory on the North African coast and separated from mainland Spain by sea. There was no evidence that any of the migrants traveled from Ceuta to the mainland.
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What Sánchez Said In His Letter
Sánchez used the letter to defend Spain’s broader migration record, saying its policies had “dramatically” reduced irregular arrivals and made the country “the second most secure external border in the EU,” despite it being the bloc’s only member state with a land frontier in Africa. He said Spain recorded half as many irregular entries as Italy between 2021 and 2026.
He also highlighted Spain’s support for countries confronting earlier migration emergencies, including by accepting people who reached Eastern Europe through Belarus in 2021 and the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2023.
“This successful policy has also allowed us to assist other Member States when they faced similar crises,” Sánchez wrote.
“In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction,” he added.
Sánchez asked the Irish presidency of the Council of the European Union to convene an urgent videoconference of the bloc’s interior ministers to establish “a common response to situations of this kind.”
He said the meeting should reaffirm that “the security of our external borders is a shared responsibility of all Member States, and not only of those on the Union’s front line.”
“We count on your leadership to ensure that the European Union responds swiftly, effectively and in a coordinated manner,” Sánchez told von der Leyen.
Europe Divided Over Spain’s Handling of Crisis
The crisis exposed divisions within Europe over border enforcement and solidarity with front-line states. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni joined leaders from 22 other countries in calling for an emergency meeting and coordinated measures to strengthen the EU’s external borders, combat smuggling networks and accelerate migrant returns.
Meloni said the scenes in Ceuta required “joint European action,” arguing that the bloc needed to reinforce its external borders and eliminate incentives for irregular migration. Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, blamed Spain’s recently closed regularization program for undocumented migrants, saying it had encouraged human trafficking, an assertion rejected by Madrid.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck a more conciliatory tone, saying Brussels had offered assistance to Spain “from the first moment.” She credited Spanish and Moroccan law enforcement with containing the crisis and said “not a single person reached mainland Spain or the rest of the EU.”
“This shows why the control of our European borders matters,” von der Leyen said. “We have a strong system in place. But it needs to be further strengthened.” She welcomed the proposed emergency talks and said addressing irregular migration required “solidarity and a united European response.”
France, meanwhile, rejected calls to suspend Spain from Schengen. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said such a step was “absolutely out of the question,” emphasizing continued security cooperation between Paris and Madrid even as France reinforced checks along its southern border.
What Happened in Ceuta
The mass arrivals began after crossings increased along Ceuta’s frontier with Morocco. People entered the Spanish enclave by scaling fences, moving around breakwaters and swimming from nearby Moroccan coastal towns, with some attempting a journey of several miles through the sea.
Ceuta, together with Melilla, forms the European Union’s only land border with Africa and has long been a migration route into Spanish territory. The enclave has additional identity checks for travel to mainland Spain, meaning reaching Ceuta does not automatically give migrants access to the rest of the Schengen area.
The sudden influx overwhelmed local reception facilities and left people sleeping in parks and on sidewalks. Madrid deployed soldiers and additional police after Ceuta’s regional government said local authorities could no longer manage the situation.
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The precise trigger remains unclear. Spanish officials blamed trafficking networks, while critics linked the surge to Madrid’s program for regularizing some undocumented migrants. However, the program applies only to people who were already living in Spain before January 1, making those who entered during the Ceuta crisis ineligible.
Spain argued smugglers had distorted a Spanish Supreme Court ruling limiting immediate returns for certain migrants arriving by sea. The decision did not apply to people entering by land, but Moroccan activists questioned whether many of those who attempted the crossing would have known about it.
In response, Spain began installing a 500-meter, or roughly 1,600-foot, containment barrier extending from the breakwater into the sea along Ceuta’s border with Morocco. The structure is intended to prevent people from swimming around the existing land fortifications, one of the routes used during the mass crossing. Soldiers remained stationed along the shoreline Saturday, escorting a small number of exhausted swimmers back toward the border as work on the new barrier proceeded, according to The Associated Press.
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Robinson and Trevor Davies.
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