Description: Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has come under intense scrutiny over Spain’s management of the Ceuta migrant crisis that erupted over the last weekend. Most notably, Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, stated that Italy would start enforcing maritime border controls with Spain. Meloni also criticized Sanchez for allowing more than 1 million illegal migrants to apply for legal integration into Spain’s social system as per a court ruling earlier this year. More than 72 thousand migrants attempted to cross into Spain’s autonomous African territory of Ceuta from Morocco last weekend in what appeared to be a coordinated move. Spanish authorities have blamed the abrupt crisis on illegal smuggling networks that operate in the fragile border between Spain and Morocco while Moroccan authorities have stated that the media space was abused to coordinate the migrants. Frontex’ former deputy director, Gil Arias, stated that he had no doubt that Morocco not only knew but deliberately pushed the 70 thousand people on Spain’s autonomous territory in Africa.
Impact: The Ceuta migrant crisis highly likely emphasizes Europe’s issues with illegal migration reminiscent of the period from the Syrian civil war when more than 1.8 million people migrated on the continent. The operation was highly likely coordinated within Morocco using digital media that presented Spain’s new migrant integration law as part of a broader policy that stipulated open borders. Although no state actors were identified behind the media campaign, the short – lived incident highly likely points out towards the weaponization of migration and the methods it could be applied to pressure countries on various issues. Europe is likely to introduce stricter border controls, enforce legislation on migrants and strengthen border cooperation within the Union as a response in the short – term. Countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece, France and the UK are likely going to experience continuous issues with illegal migration in the short to mid – term as the effectiveness of the stricter border control policies is unlikely to take immediate effect.