Italy and Denmark reaffirm their “no” to irregular immigration. Sweden also criticizes Sanchez’s Spain, while Spanish services confirm the alarm over a possible new wave of migration to Ceuta
The problem of irregular immigration continues to dominate throughout Europe. The same question always remains at the center: how to manage a migratory pressure that the continent is increasingly struggling to contain logistically and tolerate politically.
Meloni-Frederiksen alliance
Giorgia Meloni and Mette Frederiksen, prime minister of two opposing political families (the Italian conservative and the Danish social democratic) have spread a joint message “to Europe” on their respective social networks: no to uncontrolled immigration, which “fuels crime, pressure on public services and erosion of citizens’ trust”.
The two leaders, who are also the only women at the helm of a government in the Union, admit that their agreement may be surprising, but claim that they want to defend Europe’s cultural heritage together and ask for the rapid creation of repatriation centers in third countries.
In Rome the message was also read as an indirect response to Merz’s Germany, ready to reactivate the transfers of asylum seekers to Italy, and to the diplomatic crisis opened with Madrid after the events in Ceuta.
Sweden also criticizes Spain
Today, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, in the midst of campaigning for re-election next month, took matters further in an interview with the Financial Times, defining the amnesty launched by the Sánchez government for over half a million illegal immigrants as a “bad idea”.
The measure, which grants a renewable residence permit to those who have lived in Spain for at least five months without a criminal record, attracted 1.2 million applications, double Madrid’s estimates.
For Kristersson, the risk is repeating 2015, when the opening to asylum seekers turned into a continental crisis: those who arrive in Europe, he warns, then tend to move north, just as happened then.
The prime minister reports that he expressed his opposition directly to Sánchez, recalling that the stability of Schengen depends on the ability of states to “act united” on the external borders, with policies that are as aligned as possible. Now, he says, is not the time to let our guard down.
Ceuta, alert from Spanish services
In the meantime, tension remains very high in Ceuta. After the mass assault of 30-31 July, when more than 70 thousand people reached the exclave by swimming or on foot and at least 80 died in the attempt, the Spanish National Intelligence Center considers “fully credible” a social campaign calling for a new assault on 15 August, without ruling out that the date will be brought forward to exploit the surprise effect.
Thousands of illegal immigrants still remain illegally in the exclave, many camped in makeshift shelters on Trampolín beach awaiting the outcome of their asylum procedures, while the centers for unaccompanied minors are largely collapsing. The Ceuta authorities have in fact reported that the capacity was exceeded by almost 27 times.
Around 4 thousand agents, Guardia Civil and soldiers guard the border, strengthened by a floating barrier and two frigates on patrol, while intelligence does not rule out jihadist infiltration from nearby Fnideq.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Chamber’s Schengen commission will listen to Minister Piantedosi on the restoration of controls between Italy and Spain.
