COPENHAGEN: A majority of EU countries called on Saturday for emergency talks on the sudden inflow of tens of thousands of migrants into Spain’s enclave of Ceuta in North Africa.
An open letter from the leaders of 22 of the EU’s 27 members demanded the bloc’s interior ministers have a video meeting “as a matter of urgency” to agree a speedy coordinated response, and to “prevent further uncontrolled crossings.”
“We have a duty to effectively deter and relentlessly combat illegal migration,” it said.
EU foreign policy chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the move, saying the bloc needed “a lessons learned process to improve our European resilience,” while adding that “not a single person reached mainland Spain or the rest of the EU” during the influx.
The EU letter was initiated by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose country has temporarily suspended Schengen-area rules with Spain, and by her Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, who said on Friday that the EU should consider suspending Schengen cooperation with Spain.
