Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez fends off EU criticism over Ceuta migration crisis
by SAM McNEIL and JOSEPH WILSON and COLLEEN BARRY · The Washington TimesBRUSSELS — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s migration policies faced fierce criticism as leaders from across the European Union met Tuesday following last week’s rush of migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa.
The sudden arrival of 72,000 migrants on Thursday and Friday sparked a humanitarian crisis in Ceuta and reignited the immigration debate in the 27-nation bloc, though most of the migrants soon went back. More than 80 migrants died, including some who drowned or were trampled in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier, according to Spanish and Moroccan authorities.
Open letters from 22 EU leaders, and a quick retort from Mr. Sanchez, have exposed a roiling debate inside the EU pitting migration hawks against the socialist Spanish leader who has challenged consensus within the bloc on migration as well as NATO spending, Gaza and Israel.
Mr. Sanchez’s government has dismissed the attacks as politically motivated, saying most of the migrants were pushed back from Ceuta within hours in “close coordination with the Moroccan authorities and with very little support from other European states.”
While ministers seemed to rally back around Mr. Sanchez after meeting Tuesday, Europe displayed a deeply damaging disunity in the aftermath of Ceuta as it faces security threats from Moscow, instability with Washington and economic tension with Beijing, said Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific and Middle East for the financial firm Natixis.
“Europe has shown weakness again,” she said. “Massive weakness.”
EU leaders quickly pounced on Mr. Sanchez once videos from Ceuta went viral. Many blamed the incident on his government’s liberal policies and publicly rallied for new border checks at sea, air and land ports of entry.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni issued the most blunt criticism of Mr. Sanchez, as well as announcing that Italy would enforce air and sea border controls with Spain.
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Yet Ceuta’s remote geographical position across the Strait of Gilbratar from Spain meant “there was almost zero risk that people [would] really arrive in Spain and then move on to Italy,” said analyst Matteo Villa at the Italian Institute for Political Studies in Milan. He said just 2% of migrants arriving in Europe make it to Italy.
Nando Sigona, a professor at the University of Birmingham, said Ms. Meloni detested a move Mr. Sanchez presided over in July to grant legal status to about 1 million longtime residents and is eager to portray his approach as a failure.
Mr. Sanchez fired back in an online post that called Ms. Meloni’s position on Ceuta “contrary to European law, humanitarian law and the principles of solidarity that bind us together.” He said Italy has allowed in twice the number of migrants as Spain since 2021, with Spain receiving 234,000 to Italy’s 478,000.
But the criticism was EU-wide, with Ms. Meloni signing a joint letter with 21 other leaders from Finland to Malta that pointed to a July Spanish court ruling as the “trigger” for “this attack on our migration and asylum system.”
Spain’s Supreme Court had ruled that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported without due process — unlike those who cross by land or climb Ceuta’s border fence — because they had not crossed a physical barrier.
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Mr. Sanchez said the ruling had been intentionally misconstrued by migrant smugglers to persuade thousands of people to swim around the border fence.
The Socialist leader replied in his own letter by recalling that Spain had taken in migrants who arrived at eastern European nations from Belarus in 2021 and at the southern Italian island of Lampedusa in 2023.
Morocco’s government views the situation as a predictable result of the court ruling, said a high-ranking diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a highly sensitive issue.
He said it “sent a clear message to migrants: ‘Come. If you arrive, you’ll be protected.’ That outcome should have been anticipated by Ceuta’s authorities.”
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Blame has been pointed the other way, however, with Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles on Monday demanding Morocco investigate its failure to stop tens of thousands of migrants from leaving the kingdom.
Gil Arias, who served as deputy executive director of the EU’s border agency Frontex from 2006-2016 and also worked for Spain’s interior and migration ministries, said he has “absolutely no doubt” Morocco not only knew of, but was likely directly or indirectly complicit, in the Ceuta crisis.
“This doesn’t happen simply due to a passive attitude or omission from Morocco,” Mr. Arias, who retired in 2020, told The Associated Press. “There was an invitation or it was encouraged.”
The Moroccan diplomat rejected using force to tackle the migration phenomenon.
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“We are not Europe’s police.”