Spain confronts EU migration hawks in tense Ceuta talks

Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska speaks to the media during a press conference at the headquarters of the Spanish Ministry of Interior in Madrid, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Spain's interior minister faced off with hawkish EU counterparts Tuesday in a tense video call to draw lessons from the mass influx of migrants into the North African enclave of Ceuta — which laid bare the bloc's fault lines on migration.

The unprecedented sight of tens of thousands of people streaming into Ceuta from Morocco — dozens died in the attempt and almost all have since departed — left the Spanish government pitted against many of its EU partners.

While Spain moved swiftly to send migrants back from Ceuta, the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has backed a more open approach to migration than many EU counterparts — including hardliners like Italy and Denmark.

A hastily arranged video conference of the bloc's interior ministers Tuesday offered a chance to seek common ground — but also risked a showdown.

A statement issued following more than three hours of talks said member states "were united in expressing strong solidarity with Spain" and commended its "swift and effective efforts" to resolve the crisis.

But they also conceded that "communication during moments of crisis" could be "reinforced" and made "more coherent" — a tacit acknowledgement the European response this time around fell short on that front.

Migrants wash their clothes on Trampolin Beach in Ceuta, Spain, Tuesday. EPA-Yonhap

Letter war

Leading the hardliner pack, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has openly attacked Madrid's migration policies, specifically a recent push to grant legal status to undocumented migrants already in the country.

Both Italy and Denmark last week advocated suspending Spain from the Schengen free-travel area over the Ceuta crisis — a notion firmly rejected by Madrid, and which in any case is legally impossible under EU rules.

Tuesday's meeting was requested both by Sanchez — who wrote to the heads of the EU's institutions at the weekend to berate the "selfish" stance of fellow member states — and by Madrid's critics.

Twenty-two countries led by Italy, Denmark, Germany and Hungary sent a letter of their own on the Ceuta crisis, warning against migration "policies that can serve as pull factors" and citing Spanish-style regularization schemes as a case in point.

The EU has significantly tightened its migration rules in recent months, including by allowing member states to send failed asylum seekers to so-called "return hubs" located outside the bloc's borders.

While Italy's interior minister Matteo Piantedosi began his address Tuesday by expressing "sincere solidarity" with Madrid, he doubled down on that tough line.

According to a transcript shared by his office, Piantedosi argued "the time has now come" for EU countries to set up return centres on the model of a deal between Rome and Albania.

And he suggested the EU should use trade measures to pressure Morocco — which he accused of "failing to cooperate on repatriation, enjoys significant advantages in its trade relations with Europe."

"If a third country refuses to cooperate on the readmission of its own citizens, the union must be able to apply strict conditions across all sectors, using all the levers at its disposal," Piantedosi told fellow ministers.

EU heavyweight France has distanced itself from the 22-country initiative, saying it amounted to exploiting the deadly crisis for political ends.

The Spanish government said on Tuesday that 72,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco, of whom 70,000 have returned.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has commended Sanchez's "swift handling" of the situation, welcoming Tuesday's talks as a first step towards forging a "common European response".

The commission chief has urged the bloc to "double down" in five areas: preventing irregular migration in the first place via cooperation with partner states; strengthening external borders; implementing early warning systems; dismantling smuggling networks and reinforcing returns.