The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will extend its suspension of the Schengen free movement agreement with Spain for another 15 days at least, Italian media reported on Monday.
Rome had already suspended the arrangement with Madrid for a month beginning on July 31, in response to an influx of migrants who crossed into the Spanish territory of Ceuta.
The incident, in which dozens of migrants died, triggered a massive European Union migration emergency and brought Spain’s leftist government much criticism, including from Italy.
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What else do we know about Italy’s extension?
Italy’s Interior Ministry said the decision to extend the suspension was taken “due to the persistence of the factors that had led to the reintroduction of the measures on Aug. 1,” without clarifying.
The ministry added that Italy was aware of “the steps already undertaken by Spain, together with the European Union, to help bring the situation in the area back to normal in the near future.”
The announcement came despite the fact that nearly all of the some 70,000 people who had broken through the barrier returned to Morocco in the days after the incident.
Spain had responded to Italy’s suspension by introducing its own border controls for passengers arriving from Italy and on Monday reportedly said it was extending this measure by 15 days, in an apparent tit-for-tat move.
Sanchez says Ceuta incident traced to Russian, Israeli agents
Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday that an “international far-right movement” with “links to Russia and Israel” had created a disinformation campaign on social media that led to the incident at the border fence in Ceuta.
Both Rabat and Madrid had earlier said that the crisis was exacerbated by incorrect information circulating on social media regarding a recent Supreme Court ruling.
“What we know so far is that a ruling by the Supreme Court of July 8 was distorted, which was spread on social networks through fake news, disinformation and also by criminal organizations that traffic in people,” Sanchez told broadcaster SER on Monday.
He said there had been a concerted effort “to attack and divide not only Spain but also Europe,” without providing further details.
Sanchez added that there was no evidence that Moroccan authorities had been responsible.
Some 5,000 migrants remain in Ceuta, Sanchez said, with at least 1,200 being minors.
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On Friday, Spain asked for help from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in processing the remaining migrants, amid rising protests against their presence by residents of the exclave.
Ceuta is bordered by Morocco on one side and the sea on the other, with no direct access to the mainland of the European Union, making it difficult for any asylum seekers to access the bloc from there.
Edited by: Rana Taha
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