The Italian government announced on Friday that it has decided to suspend the free movement regime with Spain, provided for by the Schengen Agreement, due to the crisis in Ceuta, following the entry of tens of thousands of Moroccan citizens into this territory.
Since Thursday, the first day of the crisis, Italy has been criticizing Spain’s actions at the highest levels. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned of the possibility of suspending the application of Schengen rules.
“Italy will not stand idly by,” declared Prime Minister Meloni, describing the images coming from Ceuta as “shocking.”
Even the head of Italian diplomacy, in his reaction, said that the images from Ceuta show that the Madrid government’s decision to grant Spanish and, consequently, European citizenship to more than 500,000 irregular immigrants was “deeply wrong” and that this encourages human trafficking.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also reacted to the same issue, stating that “we will not allow anyone to enter the European Union without respecting our rules”. She also emphasized that “dangerous crossings must be stopped immediately and the networks of smugglers must be dismantled”.
Meanwhile, France and Germany pledged to help Spain if it requested such support. On the other hand, Denmark, through Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, assessed that the European Union should consider the possibility of suspending some provisions of the Schengen Agreement following the events in Ceuta.
Even on the other side of the Atlantic, Donald Trump used the Ceuta crisis to attack Democratic political opponents, saying that this scene should be remembered, because “this is what we will be like in three years if the wrong side wins.”
Meanwhile, Spanish authorities announced that at least 57 people have lost their lives while trying to reach Ceuta. It is not ruled out that there may be more victims on the Moroccan side of the border.
Some of them drowned, while others lost their lives after being crushed by the crowd while trying to climb the naval defense structure that serves to hold up the border fence.