EU ministers convene emergency videoconference over mass migrant entries in Ceuta

Ministers responsible for home affairs and justice from European Union member states are holding an extraordinary videoconference today to address the mass arrival of migrants in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.

Ireland, which currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, convened the Justice and Home Affairs meeting. The session will be chaired by Ireland's Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Jim O'Callaghan.

Twenty-two EU member states have sent a letter calling for coordinated action to better protect the bloc's external borders and to adopt additional measures in response to the incident in Ceuta.

Immediate national measures and Schengen implications

Italy has temporarily suspended the passport-free travel arrangement with Spain within the Schengen area for a period of one month as a response to the migrant situation. The Italian government said the step will not affect Spanish or other EU citizens travelling to Italy, but will introduce targeted checks on non-EU citizens arriving from Spain by air or sea.

The Schengen area, which allows travel without internal border controls across 29 European countries, permits member states to reintroduce temporary border checks for security or public order reasons. Although Italy has no land border with Spain, Rome said it reached an agreement with France to strengthen controls along the French–Italian frontier to prevent undocumented migrants from crossing into Italy.

Spain maintains a comparatively liberal migration policy and has launched a program under which more than 500,000 migrants without regular status could obtain residence permits. Spanish authorities have rejected claims that that program fuelled the mass arrivals in Ceuta, noting that people who entered the enclave illegally cannot continue onward to mainland Spain or other countries within the Schengen area.

Photo: press material from the event