Italian and Spanish prime ministers cross swords over migration
Giorgia Meloni took a swipe at Pedro Sánchez during bad-tempered exchanges on migration among EU leaders, arguing that Madrid’s decision to regularise hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants would have consequences beyond its own borders.
What Spain is doing “affects its neighbours,” the Italian prime minister said, referring to the Spanish government’s approval of the mass regularisation scheme expected to grant legal status to around 500,000 undocumented foreign residents.
According to EU diplomats, the discussion began when Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, praised Roberta Metsola and the European Parliament for passing legislation allowing the setting of deportation centres outside Europe.
She went on to ask that migration feature more prominently on European Council agendas, arguing that leaders should pay closer attention to the policies pursued by other EU capitals.
