Spain's Retaliation Against Italy on Migration: Between Firmness and Adopting Far-Right Rhetoric

• The Italian government suspended the Schengen Agreement for travelers from Spain, a move deemed legally unjustified and politically motivated.
• In response, the Spanish government implemented reciprocal controls, but in doing so, it mirrored the far-right rhetoric framing migration as a threat to public security.
• Experts argue that by adopting this language, the Spanish government has missed the opportunity to frame migration as an economic and human rights issue, further legitimizing extremist narratives.

Italy's Breach of the Schengen Agreement

• Italy suspended the free movement of persons from Spain by sea and air, citing the migrant influx in Ceuta as a threat to public order.
• Because Ceuta is thousands of kilometers from Italy, the arrival of migrants there poses no objective security threat to Italy, making the suspension a clear violation of the Schengen regime.
• Analysts suggest the move was designed to weaken the Spanish coalition government and hide the failures of Italy's own migration policies.

Spain's Response and Critique

• Under international law, states affected by a breach of treaty are entitled to take proportional counter-measures to force compliance.
• The Spanish Interior Ministry issued a decree on August 9 imposing controls on arrivals from Italy.
• Rather than focusing on Italy's treaty violation, the Spanish government justified the measures by citing "risks to public order," thereby buying into and repeating the same far-right security rhetoric it intended to counter.
• The author criticizes this approach, arguing that democratic governments should confront racist policies by highlighting the successes of humane migration management rather than feeding into the "no-debate" trap set by extremist actors.