Ceuta migrant rush puts Pedro Sanchez under EU fire over border policy

Brussels,UPDATED: Aug 4, 2026 15:14 IST

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is facing sharp criticism over his migration policies as European Union leaders meet on Tuesday after last week's rush of migrants to Ceuta, the Spanish territory in North Africa. The sudden arrival of 50,000 to 60,000 people on Thursday and Friday triggered a humanitarian crisis and reopened the immigration debate across the 27-nation bloc, even though most of the migrants soon returned.

More than 80 migrants died, according to Spanish and Moroccan authorities, with some drowning and others being trampled in a stampede as they tried to cross a breakwater barrier. The crisis has also exposed divisions within the EU, with an exchange of letters between 22 EU leaders and Sanchez underlining the gap between migration hardliners and the progressive Spanish leader.

Sanchez's government has dismissed the criticism as politically motivated. It said most migrants were pushed back from Ceuta within hours in "close coordination with the Moroccan authorities and with very little support from other European states". Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific and Middle East at Natixis, said Europe was showing damaging disunity at a time of wider geopolitical and economic strain. "Europe has shown weakness again," she said. "Massive weakness."

After videos from Ceuta went viral, several EU leaders blamed Sanchez's progressive policies and backed new border checks at sea, airports and land entry points. In an open letter, leaders from 22 EU countries said a recent Spanish court ruling had triggered "this attack on our migration and asylum system". Spain's Supreme Court had ruled that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported without due process, unlike those crossing by land or climbing Ceuta's border fence, because they had not crossed a physical barrier. Sanchez said migrant smugglers had intentionally misrepresented the ruling to persuade thousands to swim around the border fence.

In his reply, Sanchez said Spain had taken in migrants who reached eastern European countries from Belarus in 2021 and those who arrived on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa in 2023. A senior Moroccan diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Rabat saw the Ceuta situation as a predictable result of the court ruling. He said it "sent a clear message to migrants: Come. If you arrive, you'll be protected. That outcome should have been anticipated by Ceuta's authorities."

Spain's Defence Minister Margarita Robles on Monday urged Rabat to investigate how local authorities had failed to stop tens of thousands of migrants from leaving Morocco. The Moroccan diplomat rejected the suggestion that departures should have been blocked by force, saying it "reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the migration phenomenon". "We are not Europe's police," he said. Gil Arias, a former deputy executive director of the EU border agency Frontex who also worked in Spain's interior and migration ministries, said Morocco must have known about the movement of so many people and may have been complicit. "I have absolutely no doubt," Arias said. "This doesn't happen simply due to a passive attitude or omission from Morocco ... there was an invitation or it was encouraged."

The dispute comes as many right-wing politicians across the EU say they have tightened migration policy through the European Migration and Asylum Pact. The new rules have largely replaced the previous system and give capitals greater powers to monitor, detain and deport migrants to so-called safe countries such as Morocco or to "return hubs" outside the bloc. Human rights groups have questioned the measures, warning that deportation centres abroad could become long-term holding facilities filled with asylum seekers caught in legal uncertainty. "On Ceuta, political games are being played over the lives of people on both sides of the border," said Michele LeVoy, director of the Brussels-based Platform for Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants. She also criticised "Europe's inaction" in addressing the root causes of migration. "We need regular pathways for people to move in safety and dignity," LeVoy said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued some of the strongest criticism of Sanchez and said Italy would enforce air and sea border controls with Spain. But Matteo Villa, an analyst at the Italian Institute for Political Studies in Milan, said Ceuta's remote location meant there was "almost zero risk" that people would reach Spain and then move on to Italy. He said only 2 per cent of migrants arriving in Europe make it to Italy. Italy has also used the Ceuta episode to push ahead with its controversial plan, developed with Albania, to move migrant screening outside the EU. Sanchez responded by calling Meloni's position on Ceuta "contrary to European law, humanitarian law, and the principles of solidarity that bind us together". In a post on X, he also said Italy had allowed in twice as many migrants as Spain since 2021, with Spain receiving 234,000 and Italy 478,000.

Migration patterns in Europe have changed sharply in recent years. Frontex data shows that migration to the EU peaked in 2015, when 1.8 million people arrived, mostly through the Balkans or the eastern Mediterranean. In the first half of 2026, crossings fell by 37 per cent to about 49,000. "Fewer boats are setting out towards Europe, and that is the result of sustained cooperation with our partners in the region," Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens said. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had first expressed shock over Ceuta while calling for an even tougher migration line, but she later sent Sanchez a letter praising his handling of the crisis. Arianna Podesta, a spokesperson for the commission, said: "We need a lessons-learned process to improve our European resilience, preparedness and response. What happened in Ceuta has made it clear that we must do more to further strengthen external borders, for example with vigilant monitoring and where needed the use of physical barriers."

The Ceuta crisis has turned into a wider argument over migration rules, border control and Europe's response to its neighbours. As EU leaders meet on Tuesday, the immediate humanitarian fallout, the role of Morocco and the split within the bloc over how to handle migration remain at the centre of the debate.

With PTI Inputs

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