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

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez broadly blasted fellow European leaders for their response to the surge of tens of thousands of migrants from Morocco to the Spanish border, seemingly criticizing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for deciding to resume European border controls in the wake of the incident.

"In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction," Sánchez said in a letter obtained by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) newswire.

Sánchez, who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, touted his country's quick turnaround in expelling nearly all of the 50,000-60,000 migrants who crossed the border back to Morocco.

Ceuta's President, Juan Jesús Vivas, said at least 60,000 people — about 70% of the territory's population — crossed over from Morocco. Spain's interior ministry released its own figures shortly after Vivas spoke Friday, estimating that some 50,000 people had crossed from Morocco since Thursday. It added that 48,300 had already returned to Morocco by Friday evening, with hundreds more going back by the hour.

Von der Leyen claimed none of the migrants who crossed into Ceuta made it to the European mainland and that virtually all of them had returned to Morocco. "The good news is that the vast majority of those who arrived illegally have returned to Morocco, due to the effective work of Spanish and Moroccan law enforcement. Not a single person reached mainland Spain or the rest of the EU," she wrote in a Saturday morning post on X.

At least 67 people were killed in the border rush. As a result, Spain announced it was installing a 500-meter barrier in the sea to combat future migration pushes.

Meloni, a conservative, announced the signing of a letter by 22 EU countries calling for stronger borders. "This is why Italy has promoted, together with Denmark, a letter signed by 22 EU member states, which calls for joint action to strengthen external borders, combat irregular immigration, fight human traffickers, make returns more effective, and eliminate any factor that could incentivize new illegal entries," Meloni added.