Spain Imposes Border Checks on Italy as Ceuta Row Deepens

Spain has announced it will introduce temporary border checks on visitors from Italy, in direct retaliation for Rome imposing similar measures after a mass rush of people from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. The move, confirmed Friday by Spanish authorities, escalates a rare public spat between two European Union member states over migration policy.

According to the BBC, Italy introduced its border controls following an influx of about 78,000 migrants from Morocco into Ceuta, an unprecedented and deadly rush that has left at least 100 people dead, according to the enclave's president, Juan Jesús Vivas, as reported by the Guardian. France 24 described the situation as a "rare spat between the EU nations" triggered by the crisis.

The Spanish government has given Rome until Sunday to restore passport-free travel, Politico Europe reported. Madrid has warned that if Italy does not lift its one-month suspension of the Schengen Agreement, it will keep its own checks in place, effectively creating a two-way border regime between the two countries for the first time in decades.