Spain starts border checks on travellers from Italy amid row over migrant influx

MADRID - Spain on Aug 8 started border checks on travellers arriving from Italy, responding to similar measures Rome imposed following an unprecedented migrant rush into the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta.

Madrid had announced on Aug 7 it would proceed with the heightened controls, citing “persistent irregular migration pressure” facing Italy – deepening a row between the EU partners and NATO allies.

Spain’s left-wing government has complained that Italy’s hard-right government on July 31 unfairly imposed one month of border checks on travellers from Spain – suspending the EU’s Schengen Area visa-free travel arrangements – because of the Ceuta influx.

More than 70,000 migrants had crossed from Morocco into the Ceuta enclave on July 30 and 31, though almost all of them subsequently returned to Morocco within 48 hours.

The inflow alarmed European nations, especially right-wing ones urging tougher rules on irregular migrants.

However, rules for Ceuta mean migrants cannot travel onwards to continental Europe without passing another layer of border checks.

Spain’s interior ministry said the new checks on incoming travellers from Italy would apply until Sept 7. AFP