Tension remains high between Italy and Spain after the Ceuta events and the subsequent decision by the Italian government to suspend the Schengen treaties with the Iberian country. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani responded harshly to attacks from Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares.
“I understand the Spanish nervousness over their failed policy on migrants, but we have a duty to protect the Italian borders, which are also 7,000 kilometers of European borders, concerning other States as well, and are therefore borders of the entire Union,” Tajani said. “We have always been supportive of Spain, we are friends of the Spanish, but their policy on this dossier is not perfect, and we have taken our steps after a careful evaluation by the Ministry of the Interior.”
Adiós, Pedro
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When asked why Italy was the only country to suspend Schengen, Tajani explained: “Everyone makes their own assessments, ours was based on objective elements, analyzed in competent institutional committees. And what will happen to the 5,000 sub-Saharan migrants in Ceuta, who cannot be sent back to Morocco? Where will they go? It is no coincidence that the socialist government of Denmark was the first to share our concerns along with many other EU States. What happened in Ceuta is not something marginal, it is a risk for the entire Union, and it is our right to ask for additional measures, clarifications, and preventive actions so that these events do not happen again and do not compromise the social fabric of other EU members.”
In response to Spanish attacks, the Foreign Minister also referred to the statement released yesterday – August 3 – by the Interior Ministry: “The numbers they cite (Sanchez and Albares, ed.) are outdated, prior to 2021. The real data are different, we have seen a halving of irregular arrivals, also thanks to a foreign policy on the migration dossier under the Meloni government that has been more than responsible, starting with the effects of a Mattei Plan that is systemic and is bearing fruit.”
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After the defense, Tajani goes on the attack: “Spain is regularizing 500,000 irregular foreigners, and is doing so without sharing this choice with any European partners, and this is not acceptable. Now it is even learned that there are one million regularization applications, and who prevents these people from moving freely within the Schengen area?”
Finally, the response to accusations from the left of having changed border rules just to cover up regarding Vannacci: “For us Vannacci is irrelevant, we do not make decisions based on what Vannacci does.”
