Italy has extended border controls for travelers from Spain by another 15 days, and Britain has suspended an agreement with France to return migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. Both decisions are linked to actions by Rome and London to limit migratory pressure.
The Italian Interior Ministry justified the extension of the checks with the situation in Ceuta and the "continued presence of already identified difficulties". This is the third extension of the controls by Giorgia Meloni's government since the checks were reintroduced on August 1.
Spain has notified the European Union that it will also check travelers arriving from Italy. Third-country nationals travelling by plane or ship between the two countries will therefore have to present their documents to border police. The Spanish decision is in force until 8 October, while the Italian measure will last until mid-October.
London ends scheme with France
The UK government has announced that it is ending a pilot scheme with France, based on the principle of “one comes, one goes”. It allowed British authorities to return some of the migrants who arrived in small boats, in exchange for London accepting from France the same number of people who were deemed to have legitimate reasons to come to the UK.
Around 1,500 people have been returned to French territory since the scheme began just over a year ago. According to the BBC, the British government wanted the mechanism to continue, but judged that it had not reached the desired scale.
A British Home Office spokesman said that the lessons learned would be used to “accelerate efforts“ to return migrants who arrived in small boats and had no right to stay. London added that it would continue to work with Paris against illegal crossings of the English Channel.
“We are discussing with the British side the terms of exiting the agreement“, the French Home Office told the BBC.The British spokesman also indicated that “real progress“ had been made and that the number of cases was “significantly lower than last year“. France confirmed that talks to end the scheme were continuing, but no specific timeline or new mechanism for its replacement was announced.
Sources: BNR, BBC