The massive influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has shown that Germany would be better off outside the Schengen zone, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel has said.
The EU’s “borderless” travel system poses a threat to Germany as long as the bloc’s external borders remain largely unprotected, the leader of Germany’s most popular party told ZDF broadcaster on Sunday.
Some 72,000 people illegally entered Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast, within hours in late July. The influx led to severe overcrowding and inadequate sanitation, with local authorities reporting a subsequent outbreak of disease.
At least 15 rape cases were also reported in the migrant-swamped enclave. Although most of the arrivals were quickly sent back, city authorities estimated that as many as 10,000 remained in Ceuta as of last week.
“When I see something like what’s happening in Ceuta, then [I say] we’re leaving Schengen,” Weidel said. “We have to start [acting] preventively, we can’t just let everyone in unchecked.”
Germany must “close” its borders because the EU is failing to uphold its commitments on external border security, she argued.
“Schengen only works with secure external borders and open internal borders. Neither works,” Weidel said, claiming that neither the EU border agency Frontex, nor “readmission agreements,” nor the bloc’s border arrangements function properly.
“We will leave Schengen so that people like those from Ceuta can no longer come to us,” she added.
The AfD holds just over 23% of seats in the Bundestag, making it the largest opposition faction. However, it remains largely unable to influence legislation because of the so-called “firewall” policy, under which Germany’s other major parties refuse to cooperate with it.
Weidel has argued that this could change after the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2029, which she believes the AfD could win.
The Ceuta crisis has already sent shockwaves through the EU. Several European leaders have called for Spain to be excluded from the Schengen zone, while Italy introduced temporary border checks on travelers arriving from Spain on August 1. Madrid responded with reciprocal measures.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has linked the influx to Madrid’s decision to grant amnesty to undocumented migrants who arrived in Spain before January 1, 2026. The measure, which could affect more than a million people, has created a strong incentive for new arrivals to reach Spain and then travel onward to other EU countries, he argued earlier this month.
Germany has long been the EU’s leading destination for asylum seekers. It received more than 163,000 applications in 2025, accounting for roughly one in five claims across the bloc’s 27 member states, according to the EU Agency for Asylum.
The country also has the EU’s largest foreign-born population in absolute terms, with nearly 17 million people born abroad, or around 20% of the population.
Berlin has already expanded checks along its borders with other EU countries and increased the number of migrants turned away in an effort to curb illegal migration.
