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Politics

Aug 12, 2026 Zaki Laïdi

The current migration crisis is eating away at the solidarity on which the European Union depends, fueling the rise of the far right and pushing leaders to adopt increasingly hardline policies. But the Ceuta debacle shows why such measures cannot address the deeper forces driving migration.

PARIS—Soon after it became clear that more than 70,000 Moroccans were attempting to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta—many by swimming across the narrow stretch of water separating it from Morocco—22 European Union member states called on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to convene an emergency meeting of the bloc’s interior ministers. But before the meeting could even take place, Italy announced that it was temporarily suspending visa-free travel from Spain and reintroducing border controls.