Italy calls for suspending Spain’s Schengen membership after Ceuta incident
Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday suggested suspending Spain’s participation in the Schengen Area after thousands of people entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco.
Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, on Thursday urged that Spain’s participation in the Schengen Area be halted. His call came after an incident in which thousands of people entered Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Africa, from Morocco.
Ceuta sits on the African continent and is governed by Spain. The Schengen Area is a group of European countries that have largely abolished internal border controls, allowing people to move freely across national lines. The proposal to suspend Spain would mark a sharp departure from those principles. Tajani spoke on the same day as the reported mass border crossing, citing the events in Ceuta as a reason to review Spain’s position in the Schengen system.
The available information indicates that the appeal is a political signal. The exact legal mechanism for suspending a member state has not been disclosed, and no formal decision has been announced. There is also no public indication of how other governments or EU institutions intend to respond. The large number of people who crossed into Ceuta from Morocco on Thursday has placed migration and border control back at the top of the European agenda. By calling for action, Italy has made clear that the incident in the North African enclave is not being treated as a purely Spanish matter.
