Ireland will set out the need for solidarity with Spain in the aftermath of last week’s migrant crisis in Ceuta when Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan chairs an emergency meeting of EU ministers today.Tensions have risen in recent days after some EU member states warned they could impose border checks and even suspend Spain’s participation in Europe’s free-travel zone, the Schengen area.This came after more than 50,000 people crossed into the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa from Morocco last Thursday and Friday.At least 72 people died in the attempted crossing, some drowning and others being crushed as they tried to cross a breakwater barrier.Ireland has convened an emergency meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers as part of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. The ministers will gather via video link.O’Callaghan will open the meeting, with a Government source saying he will seek to “re-emphasise solidarity and unity at the heart of the European project”.He will also outline the need for the EU to “work effectively together in how we deal with third countries”. He will call for this to be done in a “more collaborative way” than has been seen in recent days. Countries such as Italy and Denmark have taken a hard line on the crisis and were among those that wrote to European Council president António Costa, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Taoiseach Micheál Martin over the weekend. In the letter, 22 EU leaders requested an extraordinary meeting of interior ministers to decide on an “immediate and co-ordinated European response”.“We cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings” or “other hybrid threats to create the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible,” the EU leaders wrote. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Germany’s Friedrich Merz were among the leaders behind the letter.On Monday, Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares told TVE, Spain’s state-owned station, that nearly everyone who illegally crossed into Ceuta last week has left. He pledged to return “every last” person to Morocco.Spain and Morocco have blamed the sudden surge on misinformation circulated about a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that restricts the immediate returns of migrants intercepted at sea.Spain has bristled at the pile-on by other European countries, accusing fellow EU members of lacking the unity it says the bloc must display in such moments. Spain also insists it acted rapidly in response, halting the crisis before it spread.Von der Leyen backed that assessment on Monday in a letter sent to Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez – a shift in tone from the concern she expressed last Friday. The European Commission president said Spain and Morocco had “managed this efficiently and effectively, successfully preventing illegal movement onwards to mainland Spain and Europe”. She said the situation has shown “the returns system in place worked.”That outcome has not prevented tensions from spilling over between EU members. Spain and Italy, in particular, have been trading barbs.“There have been states that have not risen to the occasion, governments that have not risen to the occasion,” Albares said. “The Italian government has been one of them.”Albares argued Europe must now unite instead of fighting. EU ambassadors tried to do just that during a Monday afternoon meeting in Brussels. They expressed solidarity with Spain and agreed the country had quickly returned people to Morocco, according to an EU ambassador.The Irish government source said of that meeting: “Certainly today it felt like people wished to take the temperature down a bit.” (Additional reporting: Bloomberg)