Finland and Denmark also talk about pushing Spain out of Schengen area due to migration crisis
Over 50,000 migrants are estimated to have crossed the borders between Morocco and Spain in Ceuta and Melilla.
The migration crisis in Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish enclaves on the coast of Morocco, where over 50,000 people have crossed the border swimming or on rafts (41 of them dying in the process, according to the latest numbers from the Spanish government) has echoed around Europe. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was the first to say they would exclude Spain from the Schengen area, which allows the free movement of European Union citizens between countries.
Hours later, it was Mari Rantanen, Finland's Prime Minister, who said on X, formerly Twitter, that "Spain has completely failed to protect the Schengen Area's external border from infiltration" and said that "countries that do not fulfill their obligation to protect the external border cannot be members of Schengen".
And on Friday, it was Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen who said they should "consider all options", which would include excluding Spain from the Schengen area, which would mean travellers from Spain would require additional security processes in the borders (as well as carrying passports) unlike the rest of the EU citizens.
"It is clear that the EU must immediately take all necessary steps and consider all possibilities, including suspending Schengen cooperation", Frederiksen said to the Danish news agency Ritzau, emphasizing the "threat" of uncontrolled immigration to Europe (via El País).
France's Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, has said that they have ordered to reinforce controls at the Spanish border, while the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen urged Spain to return the immigrants quickly. According to a recent report by the Interior Ministry in Spain, around half of those 50,000 migrants have voluntarily returned to Morocco.
