Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez sent a letter on Saturday to senior European Union leaders complaining about what he called the unsolidary attitude of several member states following the migration crisis at Ceuta, and calling for an urgent extraordinary videoconference of EU interior ministers.
Sánchez addressed the letter to European Council President António Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the Irish prime minister in his capacity as the rotating president of the EU Council. The letter expressed his deep concern over the reaction of some European governments after the Ceuta crisis.
The prime minister argued that Spain had recovered control of the border in under 48 hours, provided humanitarian assistance, and returned practically all of the migrants who had crossed irregularly, yet several partners had chosen to attack Spain and even demand its temporary exclusion from the Schengen area.
Sánchez defended the Spanish government’s handling of the crisis, saying it was carried out in coordination with Morocco. He also argued that Spanish migration policy had drastically reduced irregular arrivals and made Spain the second most secure external border in the EU, despite being the only member state with a land border with Africa.
The prime minister said that the governments that had questioned Spain’s actions were acting on the basis of prejudice, false news, ignorance, or political interests, and that their positions ran contrary to European law, humanitarian law, and the principle of solidarity among member states.
On the Schengen question specifically, Sánchez argued that Ceuta is not part of the Schengen area, that almost no irregular migrants pending return remain, and that Frontex data shows Spain recorded approximately half the number of irregular entries as Italy between 2021 and 2026.
Frontex figures
To support his case, Sánchez shared Frontex data on irregular arrivals recorded from 2021 to 2026. According to those figures, the Central Mediterranean route into Italy accumulated 478,600 irregular entries, the Western Balkans route 340,600, the Eastern Mediterranean route into Greece 259,800, the western route into Spain 234,760, and the EU’s eastern land border 48,000.
In a post on social network X, Sánchez said solidarity and empathy may be optional but respect for European treaties and data is not, adding that it was not a time to divide but a time to keep building a strong and united EU.
He called on the Irish Council presidency to convene the extraordinary ministerial meeting urgently, to agree on a common response to crises like the one at Ceuta and to affirm that protecting external borders is a shared responsibility of the whole Union, not only of frontline states.
