Spain says Ceuta migrant influx did not reach EU

Spain has told its European Union counterparts that none of the tens of thousands of migrants who arrived in Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish city, entered the EU, LRT reported. Former and current Lithuanian interior ministers are calling for a stronger and more unified European migration policy.

Hundreds of migrants remain in Ceuta, with some holding signs reading “asylum”. The Red Cross is distributing food and water as they wait for a route to Europe.

Morocco said about 40,000 migrants may have left the country, while Spain gave a figure of about 70,000. Ceuta authorities estimated that the number could have reached 80,000. Most have already been forced to return, and the military was deployed to help manage the crisis. Officials have given differing figures for how many migrants remain.

“We are waiting for the youth centres to open and for the authorities to take care of the elderly. People came here to live, not to ruin lives. Long live Spain. It is true, there are good people here,” a teenager from Morocco said.

Some migrants, however, damaged parts of the autonomous city and harassed women.

Spain told EU interior ministers during a remote meeting that the situation was under control and that all migrants were being forced to return to where they came from.

“The Schengen area was in no way harmed by this crisis. There was no secondary movement, nor even the possibility of one,” Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.

Italy and Denmark called for Spain to be removed from the Schengen area, which guarantees free movement, because of the crisis. Madrid firmly rejected the proposal, saying it was also legally impossible.

“The most important thing now is for the Union to act together and draw the right conclusions,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said.

Lithuanian Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said his first reaction to the events in Ceuta was that they resembled an invasion. After the ministerial meeting, he said Lithuania was urging the EU to strengthen the capabilities of Frontex and Europol, agree on a joint assessment of hybrid threats and plan funding.

“Schengen is a value earned by all Europeans so they can travel freely. Every reopening of a checkpoint is like a defeat against instrumentalised migration. I think it is a last resort,” Katelynas said.

Lithuania is familiar with the use of migrants as an instrument of pressure. Spain’s prime minister has blamed human traffickers, while Minsk and Moscow have continued to direct migrant flows towards the Baltic states and Poland as a means of applying pressure.

Former Lithuanian Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė said the EU must finally agree on rules for illegal migration and on how countries should respond to such situations.

“It is very important to have a firm, strong position, because any hesitation or any attempt to make this place attractive sends a signal to those countries that there is an open channel, an open route, and that it should be used. What is really needed is a unified, strong European position in this case,” said Bilotaitė, who served as interior minister from 2020 to 2024.