Brussels – In Ceuta, “the situation is different from that at the start of the month” because “new attempts at illegal entry have been successfully thwarted” and “new measures have been taken” to deal with the latest developments, European Commission spokesperson, Markus Lammert reiterated today (25 August), regarding the Spanish exclave where, between 30 and 31 July, around 60,000 migrants from Morocco entered the country, triggering a crisis which the European Union is still trying to resolve.
During the press briefing, Lammert announced that the Commission received a formal “emergency funding” request from Spain yesterday to assist with the recent events affecting the country. “We are working to assess the request as a matter of the highest priority to reach a swift decision,” said the spokesperson, adding that the Commission is “ready to provide further support, including through EU agencies.” The request is said to include measures aimed at “strengthening border protection and security infrastructure,” and “establishing adequate reception capacity, including for unaccompanied minors.” However, it did not provide any further detail on the “details of the content, timing, and nature of the request.” Among the priorities for action, the spokesperson also mentioned the “approximately one thousand people still present in Ceuta”, for whom the EU aims to “ensure the rapid repatriation of all those who are there illegally.”
It also did not provide much information about Italy and Spain’s suspension of the Schengen area. With effect from 1 August 2026, Italy temporarily suspended its participation in the Schengen Agreement for connections with Spain, triggering a diplomatic crisis that prompted the Madrid government to introduce similar controls on arrivals from Italy. Lammert stated that last week the Commission received “temporary notifications” from the two states, which “will remain in force until the beginning of September.”
Regarding calls from some Italian politicians for compensation for the repatriation of migrants from secondary movements, in line with the Dublin Regulation and the new Migration Pact, the spokesperson just praised the “excellent results” of the new “approach to migration” set out in the Migration and Asylum Pact. Recently, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, and Ireland have announced that they will resume sending asylum seekers who came from Italy back to Italy. These are the so-called ‘Dublin cases’, migrants who have applied for international protection in the country where they first arrived. After being identified, they did not remain in the country of arrival but subsequently moved to another country. Lammert did not comment, but pointed out that “the transfers of responsibility form part of the broader framework of the new rules and go hand in hand with the elements of solidarity provided for in the Pact.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
