Spain slams ‘selfish’ reaction from some EU states to Ceuta

Spanish soldiers watch migrants sitting on the pavement prior to escorting them back to Morocco, in Spain's north Africa's Ceuta enclave on August 1, 2026. Almost all of the thousands of migrants who entered Spain's enclave of Ceuta in North Africa had left today, officials said, as the European countries bolstered their border controls. Photo by JORGE GUERRERO /AFP via Getty Images

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Spain’s prime minister denounced what he called a “selfish, polarizing and unlawful” reaction from some European Union member states to this week’s mass influx of immigrants to the Northern African enclave of Ceuta that’s governed by Madrid.

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The response of some European governments to the situation “is not only contrary to European law, humanitarian law, and the principles of solidarity that bind us together,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote in a letter to top EU representatives seen by Bloomberg on Saturday. “It is also contrary to Europe’s long-term interests and to the most basic common sense,” he wrote, expressing his “serious concern” to reactions he said were “driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance, or political interest.”

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“The European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarizing and unlawful reaction,” Sánchez wrote in the letter addressed to European Council president Antonio Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Irish leader Micheal Martin, who holds the bloc’s rotating presidency.

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His words came after some European leaders vowed to impose border checks, if necessary, and even suspend Spain’s participation in Europe’s free-travel zone, known as the Schengen area.

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Doubling Down

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EU leaders doubled down on Saturday in a letter also sent to Costa, Von der Leyen and Martin requesting an extraordinary meeting of interior ministers to decide on an “immediate and coordinated European response.”

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“We cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings, the instrumentalization of migration or other hybrid threats to create the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible,” 22 EU leaders including Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Germany’s Friedrich Merz wrote. France was not a signatory of the letter, posted by Frederiksen on X.

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Sánchez, the most progressive European leader on migration, became the target of swift condemnation and warnings from EU peers after some 50,000 undocumented migrants arrived illegally in Ceuta this week, sparking chaos at one of the EU’s two land borders with Africa. Most have since returned to Morocco, Sánchez said.

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Spanish newspaper El Pais said sixty-seven people died during the crossings, which saw thousands of people jumping over fences or swimming through the sea from Morocco to Ceuta.

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Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish enclave in Northern Africa, are Spanish territories and once people enter either city they are officially on EU soil, although it’s highly unlikely the newly arrived migrants can move anywhere else in Europe from there.

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“In less than 48 hours, my Government has succeeded in fully restoring control over the border, in providing extensive humanitarian assistance, in returning virtually all of the migrants who crossed irregularly, and in preventing any unauthorized onward movement toward continental Europe,” Sánchez said.

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—With assistance from Rodrigo Orihuela.

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