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Ceuta: Spain demands EU meeting, blasts 'selfish' response
After Italy temporarily suspended the Schengen deal with Spain, Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez said his county was being "attacked" from within the EU, stressing that Madrid fully restored control over its border. DW has more.
https://p.dw.com/p/5I5Cr Advertisement Skip next section What you need to know What you need to know Italy's one-month suspension of the free-movement Schengen deal takes effect Spain's Sanchez calls for an urgent teleconference of EU interior ministers Madrid says 67 people died in the Ceuta mass incursion from Morocco DW correspondent says thousands of migrants still in Ceuta Germany's Merz calls on Morocco to take back the irregular migrants 'without delay' Follow this blog for continuing coverage and updates on the developing situation in Ceuta, Spain's North African territory.
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08/01/2026 August 1, 2026 WATCH: Could the Ceuta crisis help Trump in the midterms? Donald Trump has called the migrant crossings into Spain an "invasion." US political analyst Michael Yaki unpacks the political strategy behind the rhetoric.
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08/01/2026 August 1, 2026 IN PICTURES: Some migrants tell DW they don't want to go back to Morocco https://p.dw.com/p/5I7sP Skip next section Spanish police start installing floating barrier 08/01/2026 August 1, 2026 Spanish police start installing floating barrier In Ceuta, Spanish authorities started laying a new pneumatic barrier on the sea border with Morocco.
The 500-meter (1,640-feet) long barrier is designed to stand 30 to 70 centimeters (12-28 inches) above the water line and up to one meter (3.3 feet) below it. It will run parallel to a line of anchored buoys, forming a channel that would be patrolled by Spanish law enforcement.
Many of the migrants that entered the Spanish territory of Ceuta in recent days achieved that by simply swimming around the existing barrier with Morocco and gaining access to the Spanish-controlled beach.
Spain's El Mundo daily published a video online of a Guardia Civil boat installing the barrier.
08/01/2026 August 1, 2026 Most EU nations join call for emergency talks after Ceuta crisis In an open letter, 22 out of the EU's 27 members demanded a video meeting of the bloc's interior ministers on Saturday.
The meeting should be convened "as a matter of urgency" to coordinate a joint response to the situation in Ceuta, and "prevent further uncontrolled crossings."
Earlier on Saturday, Spain's Pedro Sanchez also called for a meeting of interior ministers.
08/01/2026 August 1, 2026 Sanchez: Spain managed to 'fully restore control of the border' In less than 48 hours following the border incursion in Ceuta, the Spanish government has managed to "fully restore control of the border, provide extensive humanitarian aid, repatriate virtually all migrants who crossed irregularly, and prevent any unauthorized movement toward continental Europe," according to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez .
"This has been achieved in close coordination with Moroccan authorities and with very little support from other European states," he added in the letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials.
He also pointedly noted that Spain was "one of the European Union's least porous external borders, with a number of irregular entries that is half of that recorded in Italy in recent years (2021–2026), for example."
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The Spanish leader also expressed confidence that a meeting of EU interior ministers would help "establish a common response to situations of this kind and reaffirm that the security of our external borders is a responsibility shared by all member states, and not just by those on the Union's front lines."
08/01/2026 August 1, 2026 Spain's Sanchez decries 'selfish' response by other EU nations The head of Spain's left-leaning government, Pedro Sanchez, demanded a video summit of all European Union interior ministers and slammed what he described as a "selfish" response by some EU members to the Ceuta crisis.
"Most have shown us their support and solidarity and have offered us their assistance. Others, however, have chosen to attack Spain and call for its temporary exclusion from the Schengen zone" Sanchez said, in apparent reference to Italy, which temporarily suspended free movement with Spain.
Denmark and Finland also called for reconsidering Spain's participation in the Schengen agreement, while Portugal and France responded by beefing up border security.
"In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarizing and unlawful reaction," Sanchez said in a letter to top EU leaders.
08/01/2026 August 1, 2026 Migrants in Ceuta boarding buses, trains back to Morocco With no means to reach mainland Spain or stay in the African exclave of Ceuta, thousands of migrants were going back into Morocco on Friday and Saturday.
A Moroccan source cited by the French AFP news agency said the migrants would either return by bus or be taken to a train station in Morocco's Tangier, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) away from Ceuta.
"I heard that buses had arrived to take us back home. Honestly, I just want to see my children again. I regret having come all the way here," said 32-year-old Moroccan Rachid Aouchari.
At the same time, some of the migrants in Ceuta told DW they wanted to stay.
"And I want food. I have four days [without food]," one of them said "Nothing, nothing. Just drinking water and no food."
CeutaSpainAfter ItalySchengenSpanish PM Pedro SanchezMadrid
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