Europe · Friday, 31 July 2026
Sánchez condemns a "selfish" EU reaction after 67 die in the mass crossing into Ceuta

Between 50,000 and 60,000 people crossed by land and sea from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta on July 30, and the death toll rose to 67, most of them drownings. In a letter widely quoted in European media, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the "selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction" of other EU states, after Italy placed temporary controls on travel from Spain, Giorgia Meloni called for Spain's Schengen membership to be suspended and French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez ordered extra checks on the shared border. The crossings followed a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that migrants arriving by sea cannot be summarily expelled, a decision experts describe as very narrow and probably misread.
More on this: Ceuta, Schengen and the EU migration pact