{"id":468317,"date":"2026-10-16T19:18:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T17:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/10\/16\/crollano-gli-arrivi-di-migranti-ma-lue-non-abbassa-la-guardia-e-la-danimarca-attacca-la-spagna\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T20:02:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:02:54","slug":"migrant-arrivals-are-plummeting-but-the-eu-is-not-letting-its-guard-down-and-denmark-attacks-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/10\/16\/migrant-arrivals-are-plummeting-but-the-eu-is-not-letting-its-guard-down-and-denmark-attacks-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Migrant arrivals are plummeting, but the EU is not letting its guard down. And Denmark attacks Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – On the subject of immigration, \u201cthe figures show that the EU\u2019s comprehensive approach is bearing fruit:<\/strong> irregular border crossings into the EU are at their lowest level since 2021.\u201d At the same time, \u201cwe must, however, remain vigilant<\/strong> and step up the fight against migrant smuggling and against all forms of exploitation of migrants themselves.\u201d This is how the President of the European Council, Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong>, summarises the situation and the essence of today\u2019s (16 October) debate among Heads of State and Government on an issue that continues to stir strong emotions. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to Brussels, the common rules on immigration \u2013 particularly irregular immigration \u2013 are working. But the Ceuta crisis<\/a> has burst onto the political scene, reigniting the disputes and divisions seen in August. Denmark has opened a rift with Spain, in a clash entirely within the Socialist family. The Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen<\/strong>, has publicly criticised the immigration policies introduced by the Socialist government of Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/strong>, calling on the European Commission to examine whether the plan to regularise the status of 600,000 asylum seekers is compatible with the common rules.<\/p>\n

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“I have asked the European Commission to investigate<\/strong> what happens when a country does almost the exact opposite of what the rest of us are doing,”, namely encouraging arrivals on EU soil, stated the Danish Prime Minister on the second day of the European Council summit, with the debate on immigration among the items on the agenda<\/a>. Frederiksen insists: \u201cI believe this runs counter to the migration policy currently supported by a large majority in Europe.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n

For the outgoing Spanish government and its leader, the blow therefore comes from representatives of political forces that are, in theory, allies \u2013 the Danish Socialists \u2013 who are instead revealing their conservative and intransigent nature, which enables them to reach agreements with the European centre-right and the most extreme factions. On the issue of immigration, the Copenhagen government shares the same stance as Giorgia Meloni\u2019s government in Italy<\/b><\/a>, which, in opposition to Madrid, has ordered the extension of checks to those arriving from Spain.<\/p>\n

The reason for the tensions lies precisely in the analysis shared by all the leaders around the table: the number of irregular arrivals has fallen thanks to ongoing cooperation with partner countries and preventive measures in the main countries of origin and transit. The decisions taken by the S\u00e1nchez government are seen as contradicting the work carried out in recent years, and there are therefore fears that the results achieved may be put at risk.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni<\/strong>, expressed her satisfaction with the debate. During the European Council meeting, \u201cwe discussed migration,\u201d although this is \u201cthe start of a debate that will conclude at the next European Council,\u201d she explained at a press briefing following the meeting. \u201cBut I believe the European Commission\u2019s announcement of new measures and a joint assessment with Member States to understand how we can establish a framework of measures enabling Member States to provide immediate responses in the event of a crisis is very important,\u201d she noted. \u201cWhat we saw happen, for example, in Ceuta at the start of August illustrates this kind of scenario, and so there is a reference to this emergency framework,\u201d the Prime Minister emphasised, clarifying that these are \u201ctools for national governments to be able to intervene in such a scenario.\u201d For Italy, \u201cthis is very important\u201d as it \u201craised the issue months and months ago, well before the Ceuta crisis,\u201d through one of its \u201cdraft security bills.\u201d<\/div>\n
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It is precisely on the subject of Ceuta and the rift with Spain that Meloni explains she has spoken with S\u00e1nchez and <\/span><\/span><\/span>announces efforts to reach a solution with Madrid following the seven-day extension of the suspension of the Schengen Agreement with Spain. \u201cWe have decided to have our Home Affairs Ministers work next week to replace the reciprocal measures currently in place with other forms of cooperation<\/strong>. We are moving towards a different kind of solution, while certainly continuing our monitoring to ensure, on the one hand, that Schengen functions properly, and, on the other, that our nation\u2019s borders are protected,\u201d she stated.
This point was also highlighted by the Spanish Prime Minister. Regarding the temporary suspension of the Schengen rules between Italy and Spain, \u201cI hope that an agreement can be reached as soon as possible\u201d, S\u00e1nchez said at a press conference following the European summit. \u201cThe governments of Italy and Spain will work to provide a timely response to the exceptional situation arising from the non-application of the Schengen rules between Spain and Italy,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n
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As is customary, on the sidelines of this European Council meeting, Meloni, together with Denmark\u2019s Frederiksen and the Dutch Prime Minister, Rob Jetten, hosted an informal meeting this morning between some of the Member States most interested in the issue of innovative solutions to be applied to the management of migration. Alongside Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the European Commission \u2013 as announced by Palazzo Chigi \u2013 the meeting was attended by Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden. \u201cThe meeting provided an opportunity to take stock of the progress made in recent months and to discuss upcoming initiatives, with particular attention to preventing mass irregular arrivals, the exploitation of migrants and the implementation of the new European regulatory framework,\u201d the statement reads. As for the events in Ceuta, Meloni emphasised \u201cthe need to maintain a high level of vigilance at the Union\u2019s external borders, focusing on the prevention of irregular immigration and the associated security risks,\u201d  and \u201craised the issue of a targeted review of European legislation to make the new procedures relating to the detention of irregular migrants during border procedures more effective,\u201d she added.<\/div>\n
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Prime Minister Meloni expressed her satisfaction at \u201cthe European Commission\u2019s announcement of new measures\u201d and, regarding the events in Ceuta, explained that Rome and Madrid will work towards \u201cother forms of cooperation\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":468280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[37,1666,4095,26027,1889,13114],"class_list":["post-468317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-danimarca","tag-european-council","tag-immigration","tag-vertice-dei-leader-en","tag-spain","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468317"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468326,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468317\/revisions\/468326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}