Italy's foreign minister supports suspending Spain from Schengen over Ceuta border crisis

Italy's foreign minister said Thursday that he supports suspending Spain's participation in the Schengen area, citing the ongoing migration crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

"I am in favor of closing the Schengen Area to Spain," Antonio Tajani wrote on US social media platform X, arguing that "irregular and uncontrolled immigration poses a danger to national security."

"The images coming from Ceuta show how the Madrid Government's decision to grant Spanish, and therefore European, citizenship to over 500,000 irregular immigrants is profoundly wrong and encourages human trafficking," he added.

His remarks came as Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta faces a sharp increase in migrant arrivals from neighboring Morocco.

Earlier Thursday, the Board of Spokespersons of the Ceuta Assembly criticized the Spanish government's response to the crisis as "clearly insufficient," according to the EFE news agency.

In a joint statement, the parties called for a stronger commitment and "immediate action," describing the situation as unprecedented and warning that the mass arrivals are placing extraordinary pressure on the city and testing its institutional response capacity.

Separately, Spanish authorities recovered the bodies of nine people who reportedly attempted to swim from Morocco to Ceuta during the latest wave of crossings.

Authorities believe the victims drowned while attempting to reach Ceuta by sea, although autopsies are expected to determine the exact causes of death.

Local authorities reported that over 1,500 people have entered Ceuta by swimming in just over a week.