Italy and Spain Extend Tit-for-Tat Border Checks Over Migrant Rush

Italy said on Tuesday it had extended for another 15 days its border checks for travellers arriving from Spain, and Madrid answered with the same measure, according to The Local Italy. The two EU members are now checking each other's travellers in a tit-for-tat exchange that has run through the summer and into the autumn.

The dispute is rooted in migration. The checks were introduced in the wake of what the outlet describes as a migrant rush, and neither capital has moved to lift them. Both countries sit on the Mediterranean frontier, and each has accused the other of allowing onward movement rather than registering arrivals at its own external border.

The measure matters beyond the two capitals. Italy and Spain are among the most visited countries in Europe, and controls on a land or air route between them touch ordinary travellers, hauliers and the tourism trade as much as they touch migration policy.