Spain threatens retaliation if Italy fails to lift border controls after Ceuta crossings

Spain has threatened to impose counter-measures on Italy if it fails to lift border controls introduced following the mass crossing of migrants into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.

Roughly 78,000 migrants from neighbouring Morocco arrived in Ceuta by sea in a matter of hours on Thursday and Friday last week.

In the wake of the crossings, which saw around 100 people die, Italy partially suspended its Schengen arrangement with Spain, which included the closure of maritime and air entry points as well as the reinforcement of land border controls.

On Friday, Spain called the move "unjustified" and "discriminatory against the Spanish population" and demanded it be reversed by Sunday 9 August.

It added it would introduce "proportionate measures to protect the interests and dignity of its citizens" if Italy failed to reverse its decision.

Italy, which does not share a land border with Spain, said its decision to partially suspend the EU's ​border-free Schengen arrangements was to prevent any of the migrants who had entered Ceuta from travelling on to Italy.

Madrid dismissed this position, saying it was based on "spurious arguments" that lacked any basis in fact because the migrants who entered Ceuta had no way of entering the Schengen area. It added the vast majority of migrants have already returned to Morocco.

Last week's crossings marked a new low in relations between Spain's socialist leader Pedro Sanchez and Italy's conservative leader Giorgia Meloni - who has long called for stricter migration rules in the EU.