Italy extends border checks with Spain for an additional 15 days
Italy extended border checks with Spain for an additional 15 days due to internal security and migration risks, amid political disagreements.
Translated by Qiyas from الجريدة — Original source
Travelers between Italy and Spain should expect the continuation of random border checks between the two EU member states, after Italy extended the measure for an additional 15 days amid a dispute over how to handle migrants.
The right-wing government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni first imposed the measure in August, following the arrival of thousands of migrants in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in North Africa.
Italy’s Ministry of the Interior said the extension was necessary due to the continued high risk to internal security, as well as “potential risks associated with possible terrorist infiltration.”
For its part, Spain’s Ministry of the Interior stated that border checks would continue until October 8, noting that the reasons for the checks “have not changed.”
When first imposing the checks, Rome justified them as necessary to protect Italy’s borders due to the large number of migrants who had arrived in Ceuta.
However, there were no indications that any of the migrants who arrived in Ceuta had attempted to travel to Italy. In fact, they were not even permitted to travel to mainland Spain.
Critics accused Meloni of using the border checks to send a political message domestically, as her government faces increasing pressure from the new far-right party Brothers of Italy.
