Spain threatens retaliation if Italy fails to lift border controls after Ceuta migrant crossings
Spain has threatened retaliatory measures against Italy following Italy's decision to partially suspend Schengen border arrangements due to a surge of migrants in Ceuta. Italy maintains that the border controls are necessary to prevent further migration, while Spain calls the move unjustified.
Why it matters
The dispute highlights ongoing tensions within the European Union regarding migration policy and the integrity of the Schengen open-border agreement.
Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Hundreds of migrants were pictured lined up on a beach in Ceuta to collect aid
Spain has threatened to impose counter-measures on Italy if it fails to lift border controls introduced following the mass crossing of migrants into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
Roughly 78,000 migrants from neighbouring Morocco arrived in Ceuta by sea in a matter of hours on Thursday and Friday last week.
In the wake of the crossings, which saw around 100 people die, Italy partially suspended its Schengen arrangement with Spain, which included the closure of maritime and air entry points as well as the reinforcement of land border controls.
On Friday, Spain called the move "unjustified" and "discriminatory against the Spanish population" and demanded it be reversed by Sunday 9 August.
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