Italy has decided to extend border controls for another 15 days on passengers arriving by plane and boat from Spain. The temporary suspension of Schengen between the two countries, introduced last August 1 due to the Ceuta migration crisis, was set to expire this Monday, August 31, but Giorgia Meloni’s government has ultimately chosen to maintain the measure until September 15. The government’s initial intention was to extend the controls for another month, but a two-week extension was finally chosen for technical reasons.
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The decision, reported by La Vanguardia, comes after several days of uncertainty about Rome’s intentions and prolongs the political standoff with the Spanish government. The controls carried out over the last month have yielded few results: very few people in irregular situations have been detected and none coming from Ceuta.
The measure was adopted, according to the Italian Ministry of the Interior, in line with “the analysis carried out by the Immigration and Border Security Analysis Committee, due to the persistence of the assessment elements that led to its reintroduction last August 1,” but also taking into account “the initiatives already undertaken by Spain, together with the European Union, so that the situation in that area can move towards a forthcoming normalization.”
The reasons for the extension were communicated by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, to his Spanish counterpart, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, during what the Italian ministry described as a “constructive telephone conversation.”
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The Italian Minister of the Interior communicated the extension to Grande-Marlaska during a “constructive telephone conversation”
In recent days, Italian government sources had pointed to the worsening situation in Ceuta and possible terrorism risks as arguments to maintain the controls. The terrorism risk, however, was not among the reasons initially communicated by Italy to the European Commission to justify the measure.
The extension now requires Rome to make a new communication to Brussels. The decision also keeps the clash with Madrid open, which had responded to the Italian initiative with its own measures. Amid controls, ultimatums, and political reprisals, the crisis between the two governments is still far from being resolved.
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