EU divisions over migration deepened on Sunday at what one diplomat called a bitter summit in Brussels, called after 60,000 migrants stormed the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week.
Ambassadors from the bloc's 27 member states gathered for emergency talks after the mass crossing. According to one diplomat, Spain used the meeting to hit back at other countries that had criticised Madrid for failing to protect the EU's external border.
The diplomat said of the meeting: "Spain gave their assessment of the facts, sometimes slightly bitter vis-a-vis some of the critical member states."
Member countries rounded on Spain, the diplomat said, demanding to know "lessons learned to prevent a repeat" of the Ceuta fiasco. They also demanded Madrid verify the numbers of migrants returned to Morocco, which borders the enclave, and the tally of those allowed to remain in Ceuta.
"Member states asked for monitoring of the situation and verification of the numbers of returns shared by Spain, plus lessons learned to prevent a repeat," the diplomat added. A further summit of home affairs and justice ministers, convened by Ireland under its rotating EU Council presidency, will take place on Monday.
The migrants swam from Morocco into Ceuta on Thursday, taking advantage of weak security at the border. At least 57 people died, either by drowning or being crushed at the border fence.
By Friday night, some 48,000 of those who crossed into Ceuta, which borders Morocco in North Africa but is part of Spain and EU soil, were reported to have been returned.
Von der Leyen's warning to Madrid
The emergency talks followed a thinly veiled attack on Madrid from European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. In a letter to Spanish officials, she reminded them that protecting EU borders was a "shared responsibility," adding: "Only together can we preserve the integrity of the Schengen area. We have remained firm that the EU will not accept illegal entries... Following this incident, it is clear that we must do more to strengthen our borders at critical points, with surveillance and the use of physical barriers where necessary."
The crossing had already triggered calls from European leaders for Spain's temporary suspension from the Schengen free-travel zone, prompting a furious response from Madrid.
Sanchez hits back at 22 EU leaders
Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned 22 other EU leaders as "selfish, polarising, unlawful" after they signed a joint letter raising "serious concern" over the threat to the EU's frontier. Those leaders also attacked Sanchez's socialist government for granting legal status to up to 1.2 million illegal migrants, arguing the amnesty acted as a "pull factor" that fuelled the Ceuta crisis.
Madrid has rejected the idea that its amnesty triggered the crisis and pointed out that no migrants are thought to have reached the EU mainland.
