Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has received a letter signed by 22 EU heads of state and government — including Kyriakos Mitsotakis — urging her to take the Ceuta situation seriously, following the mass crossing of thousands of Moroccan migrants into the Spanish enclave. The letter was also addressed to European Council President António Costa and Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin. The signatory leaders have effectively declared a migration crisis, expressing “serious concern” over the security of the European Union’s external borders. They argue that despite the fact that the vast majority of migrants were returned to Morocco, EU policy on illegal immigration remains insufficiently strict.
Ceuta: Who signed the letter
According to Politico, the signatories include German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the leaders of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden.
More than two months ago, Spain regularized the status of 1.2 million undocumented migrants through a program passed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his ruling party. According to the European leaders, such policies act as “pull factors” for new waves of migration. “We have a duty to effectively deter and tirelessly combat illegal immigration, by coordinating our actions, reinforcing external borders, and addressing policies that can function as pull factors — such as the regularization of very large numbers of irregular migrants,” the letter states. “We cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings, the exploitation of migration, or other hybrid threats to create the impression that illegal entry into the European Union is achievable — or that an irregular migrant’s illegal entry can be converted into legal residence,” the leaders continued.
The signatories are also calling for greater European coordination in managing migration, and have declared their readiness to support the reintroduction or reinforcement of temporary border controls within the Schengen Area. They are also proposing that an emergency video conference of EU Interior Ministers be convened to determine the next steps.
Sánchez condemns calls for Spain’s temporary Schengen suspension
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded by sending his own letter to Von der Leyen, Costa, and Martin — particularly following Giorgia Meloni’s decision to call for Spain’s temporary suspension from the Schengen Area. Sánchez condemned what he described as a deliberate campaign by certain European leaders to attack Spain and push for its removal from the border-free zone.
Italy has already imposed restrictions on travel from Spain to Italian ports and airports, while France has reinforced border controls along its frontier with Spain in the wake of the Ceuta developments. Sánchez argued that calls for Spain’s Schengen suspension “are not only contrary to European law, humanitarian law, and the principles of solidarity that bind us together,” but also run against “Europe’s long-term interests and the most basic common sense.”
Closing his letter, the Spanish Prime Minister stressed that the EU member states backing the suspension proposal “are guided by prejudice, disinformation, ignorance, or political self-interest.” “In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, divisive, and unlawful reaction,” he wrote.
