Madrid (Spain), 14 Sept. (LaPresse) – The Spanish government will assess whether to further extend the checks on travellers arriving from Italy, depending on the decision taken by Rome. On 31 August, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi announced a 15-day extension of the suspension of the Schengen Agreement with Spain, and Madrid responded with a mirror measure. “The government will decide how to proceed when the time comes,” sources at the Spanish Ministry of the Interior told LaPresse, without speculating on the moves that Giorgia Meloni’s government might make. In Spain, checks on travellers arriving from Italy currently remain in place until 21 September. Madrid has described Italy’s decision following the crisis in Ceuta as incomprehensible, reiterating on several occasions that no one can move freely from the exclave to the rest of the Schengen area. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez himself, during his briefing to the Congress of Deputies on the handling of the crisis in Ceuta, stated that Rome had “no reason” to suspend the Schengen Agreement and lamented a lack of solidarity, despite Spain having taken in migrants who had arrived irregularly in Italy during the crisis in Lampedusa in 2023.
Migrants, Madrid: “We will assess whether to extend the checks depending on Rome’s decisions”
Madrid (Spain), 14 Sept. (LaPresse) – The Spanish government will assess whether to further extend the checks on travellers arriving from Italy, depending on the decision taken by Rome. On 31 August, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi announced a 15-day extension of the suspension of the Schengen Agreement with Spain, and Madrid responded with a mirror measure. “The government will decide how to proceed when the time comes,” sources at the Spanish Ministry of the Interior told LaPresse, without speculating on the moves that Giorgia Meloni’s government might make. In Spain, checks on travellers arriving from Italy currently remain in place until 21 September. Madrid has described Italy’s decision following the crisis in Ceuta as incomprehensible, reiterating on several occasions that no one can move freely from the exclave to the rest of the Schengen area. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez himself, during his briefing to the Congress of Deputies on the handling of the crisis in Ceuta, stated that Rome had “no reason” to suspend the Schengen Agreement and lamented a lack of solidarity, despite Spain having taken in migrants who had arrived irregularly in Italy during the crisis in Lampedusa in 2023.