Madrid (Spain), 19 June (LaPresse) – Whilst Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are taking a united stance in Europe on the forthcoming EU budget, the migration issue continues to highlight a deep rift between Madrid and Rome. According to Euractiv, a news website specialising in EU politics, which cites diplomatic sources, there was reportedly a heated exchange of views between the two leaders during yesterday’s summit. It is said to have begun when Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, a Social Democrat, praised the approval of the new regulation on returns. Sánchez is reported to have criticised the EU’s hardline stance, at which point Meloni is said to have backed Frederiksen, instead criticising Madrid’s decision to regularise the status of at least 500,000 undocumented migrants. The Italian Prime Minister, Euractiv reports, is said to have pointed out that Spain’s policy will have repercussions beyond its national borders. The respective positions of Madrid and Rome on the migration issue are well known. The ECR group leader and FdI MEP, Nicola Procaccini, has openly criticised the Sanchez government’s decision to proceed with a mass regularisation, and the Spanish Prime Minister, upon arriving at the European Council yesterday, reiterated his opposition to the new return regulation and to hubs in third countries. The EU is sending the “wrong message”, he said.
EU: Clash between Meloni and Sánchez over migrants at the summit
Madrid (Spain), 19 June (LaPresse) – Whilst Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are taking a united stance in Europe on the forthcoming EU budget, the migration issue continues to highlight a deep rift between Madrid and Rome. According to Euractiv, a news website specialising in EU politics, which cites diplomatic sources, there was reportedly a heated exchange of views between the two leaders during yesterday’s summit. It is said to have begun when Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, a Social Democrat, praised the approval of the new regulation on returns. Sánchez is reported to have criticised the EU’s hardline stance, at which point Meloni is said to have backed Frederiksen, instead criticising Madrid’s decision to regularise the status of at least 500,000 undocumented migrants. The Italian Prime Minister, Euractiv reports, is said to have pointed out that Spain’s policy will have repercussions beyond its national borders. The respective positions of Madrid and Rome on the migration issue are well known. The ECR group leader and FdI MEP, Nicola Procaccini, has openly criticised the Sanchez government’s decision to proceed with a mass regularisation, and the Spanish Prime Minister, upon arriving at the European Council yesterday, reiterated his opposition to the new return regulation and to hubs in third countries. The EU is sending the “wrong message”, he said.
