European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said the European Union offered Spain support «from the first moment» of the Ceuta border crisis, after the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, accused some member states of reacting in a «selfish, polarising» way.
Speaking as the emergency triggered bitter infighting among EU capitals over migration, von der Leyen insisted that the attempted mass border crossing had been contained. «Not a single person reached mainland Spain or the rest of the EU,» she said. The commission president stressed that the crisis had not spread to the rest of Europe and that the border had been holding.
Sánchez had earlier lashed out at the EU, condemning what he called the «selfish, polarising» response of some countries to the mass border breach in Ceuta. His remarks came ahead of emergency talks, with the death toll from the crisis continuing to rise. Donald Trump also waded into the row, branding the border breach a «catastrophe». The Spanish leader used unusually blunt language, reflecting the mood in Madrid as the emergency unfolded.
The emergency centred on Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast, after large numbers of migrants attempted to enter the territory from neighbouring Morocco. Some accounts put the number of people involved in the attempted crossing at around 60,000 and described the events as an invasion. The description of the events as an invasion caused further friction between Spain and other governments. The crisis has already cost 67 lives, according to reports, and has sharpened the debate across Europe over border security and solidarity.
Von der Leyen said the EU had offered support to Madrid from the beginning and repeated that no migrant had managed to travel beyond Ceuta. Her comments were a direct response to the Spanish criticism, coming after Sánchez had expressed frustration with the reaction of several European governments. The European Commission president did not name the countries that had drawn the criticism, but her statement underlined the EU position that the crisis had been managed at the border.
The dispute has exposed divisions that migration regularly creates inside the European Union. Spain demanded a clear show of solidarity, while some other governments were reported to be worried about the wider consequences of the border breach. The emergency meeting is now expected to be dominated by the fallout from the crisis, with both sides seeking to avoid a further escalation of the argument. The public clash between Madrid and Brussels has become the latest example of migration turning into a political crisis for the bloc.
