Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez fends off blistering criticism within the EU over Ceuta crisis

Published 4 August 2026 · politics

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's migration policies have come under withering criticism as leaders from across the European Union meet on Tuesday (August 4, 2026)

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's migration policies have come under withering criticism as leaders from across the European Union meet on Tuesday (August 4, 2026) following last week's rush of migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa. The sudden arrival of 50,000 to 60,000 migrants on Thursday (July 30, 2026) and Friday (July 31, 2026) sparked a humanitarian crisis in Ceuta and reignited the immigration debate in the 27-nation bloc, though most of the migrants soon went back. More than 80 migrants died, including some who drowned or were trampled in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier, according to Spanish and Moroccan authorities. Open letters from 22 EU leaders, and a quick retort from Mr. Sanchez, have exposed a roiling debate inside the EU pitting migration hawks against the progressive Spanish leader who has challenged consensus within the bloc on migration as well as NATO spending, Gaza and Israel. Sanchez's government has fended off the attacks as politically motivated, saying most of the migrants were pushed back from Ceuta within hours in “close coordination with the Moroccan authorities and with very little support from other European states.” Regardless of Tuesday meeting's outcome, Europe is displaying a deeply damaging disunity as it faces security threats from Moscow, instability with Washington and economic tension with Beijing, said Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific and Middle East for the financial firm Natixis. “Europe has shown weakness again,” she said.

“Massive weakness.” Sanchez rattled by withering criticism from fellow EU leaders over Ceuta EU leaders quickly pounced on Mr. Sanchez once videos from Ceuta went viral. Many blamed the incident on his government's progressive policies and publicly rallied for new border checks at sea, air and land ports of entry. They blamed a recent Spanish court ruling for triggering “this attack on our migration and asylum system,” according to an open letter signed from the leaders of 22 EU countries, from Finland to Malta. Spain's Supreme Court had ruled that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported without due process, unlike those who cross by land or climb Ceuta's border fence because they had not crossed a physical barrier. Sanchez said that the ruling had been intentionally misconstrued by migrant smugglers to convince thousands of people to cross by swimming around the border fence. The Socialist leader replied in his own letter by recalling that Spain had, in solidarity with the EU, taken in migrants who arrived to eastern European nations from Belarus in 2021 and to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa in 2023. Right-wing coalition had led migration policy overhaul in Brussels Many right-wing politicians have won elections across the EU by promising to crackdown on migration — and they claim to have done so with the European Migration and Asylum Pact. Newer, stricter regulations for asylum seekers and migrants largely replaced the previous migration system, which was widely considered a failure.