Socialist Spanish PM blasts Meloni over restored border controls after Ceuta surge, demands emergency meeting

Headline (verbatim): "Socialist Spanish PM blasts Meloni over restored border controls after Ceuta surge, demands emergency meeting"

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) sent a letter -- obtained by AFP -- to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, and Irish PM Micheal Martin, asking for a formal gathering of the 27 EU interior ministers. Ireland currently holds the EU Council's rotating presidency.

Sanchez (in the letter): "In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction."

Sanchez (in the letter): "Others, however, have chosen to attack Spain and to call for its temporary exclusion from the Schengen Area."

Sanchez (in the letter): "contrary to European law, humanitarian law, and the principles of solidarity."

Meloni (on X): "The images arriving from Ceuta have once again demonstrated how urgent it is for Europe to respond to illegal immigration."

Meloni (on X): "Defending the external borders of the Union is not the interest of a single Nation. It is a shared responsibility of Europe."

Von der Leyen: "The good news is that the vast majority of those who arrived illegally have returned to Morocco."

Von der Leyen: "Not a single person reached mainland Spain or the rest of the EU."

Italy reinstated border checks with Spain, temporarily setting aside the Schengen open-travel pact (normally passport-free travel across 29 European nations).

Irish Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan "will convene the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council to handle the crisis."

Sanchez argued Spain "by Frontex figures, has one of the EU's toughest external borders to breach -- with irregular entries about half of Italy's between 2021 and 2026."

Meloni: "a letter signed by 22 EU member states"

(Photo caption in the same file reads: "a joint letter singed by 23 European nations." The article text above says 22 signatories.)

(Photo caption in the same file reads: "a joint letter singed by 23 European nations." The article text above says 22 signatories.)