Italy and Spain extend strengthened border checks... Conflict in the aftermath of the immigration crisis

Strengthening inspection measures to be increased again

(Rome = Yonhap News) Correspondent Min Gyeong-rak = Italy and Spain are continuing their war of nerves by extending the strengthened border checks introduced after the migrant invasion of Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa.

According to the local ANSA news agency on the 15th (local time), Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi sent a notice to the European Union (EU) Commission and member states extending the strengthening of border checks in Spain for another 15 days.

The Italian Ministry of the Interior announced that the decision to extend was made based on the evaluation results of the Immigration and Border Security Analysis Committee held on this day. He explained that domestic security risks remain high and there are also 'risks associated with potential infiltration by terrorists.'

With this measure, Italy's strengthened border checks with Spain will apply until the end of this month. This measure was applied for one month from the 1st of last month, was extended for 15 days this month, and was further extended this time.

In late July, as tens of thousands of migrants crossed the border from Morocco into the neighboring Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta within a few days, Italy announced that it would not apply the Schengen Agreement only to Spain. The Schengen Agreement is a system that guarantees free movement of people and goods by exempting people from border crossing procedures such as passport inspection when crossing the borders of 29 European countries.

In response to Italy's decision to extend strengthened inspections, Spain also extended random checks on travelers entering the country from Italy until the 8th of next month.

Spain's strengthened inspection measures were implemented for a month on the 8th of last month in response to Italy's exclusion from the Schengen Agreement, and were extended once until the 23rd of this month.

There is also an analysis that the background to the prolonged conflict between the two countries is the domestic anti-immigrant sentiment that grew in the wake of the Ceuta incident.

In Italy, there are recent observations that the far-right new political party Future of the Nation is eroding the support rating of the Giorgia Meloni government's coalition government by advocating strong anti-immigrant policies. Spain's left-wing government of Pedro Sánchez is in a difficult situation due to a corruption scandal and the Ceuta migrant invasion.