Politicians from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France urge tougher border controls and criticize Spain’s migration policies.
On Friday, the leaders of the Sweden Democrats (SD) and the Danish People’s Party (DF), the two main far-right parties in those countries, expressed support for suspending the application of the Schengen Agreement on free movement with Spain following the incidents in Ceuta.
RELATED:
Wilders Calls for Spain’s Expulsion from Schengen Over Ceuta Crisis
“This is nothing less than an invasion. Spain must immediately close its border. If it does not, it should be expelled from Schengen, and the borders with Spain should be closed with immediate effect,” SD leader Jimmie Åkesson said.
The SD is the second-largest parliamentary force in Sweden, which will hold legislative elections on Sept. 13, and has served during this legislative term as a supporter of the minority government of conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
“We are witnessing a catastrophe, where the extreme vulnerability of the Schengen system is being exposed by a profoundly irresponsible government,” DF leader Morten Messerschmidt said, referring to the measures adopted by the Spanish government regarding regularization.
Messerschmidt acknowledged that suspending Schengen could have consequences for Danish tourists. “Of course, that is not the objective. I myself frequently spend my vacations in Spain. The DF’s policy is that it should be easy to be a tourist in Europe, but definitely difficult to be a terrorist,” he said.
Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry Morten Bødskov, a Social Democrat, said in a statement that the European Union’s borders should not be weakened but strengthened, emphasizing that his country has insisted on that approach in recent years. “Effective cooperation within the Schengen framework is crucial. It is the responsibility of every member state to protect the external borders,” he said.
In one day, 49,000 Moroccan have crossed into Spain illegally-Europe’s Far Right gets another boost! pic.twitter.com/ZdjBoec7H5
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) July 31, 2026
Denmark Joins the Anti-Migrant Wave
On Friday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen asked the European Union to examine all options following the mass arrival of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish North African city of Ceuta, including excluding Spain from the Schengen Agreement.
“It is clear that the EU must immediately take all necessary steps and consider all possibilities, including suspending Schengen cooperation,” she said.
Frederiksen stressed that uncontrolled migration is a “threat” to Europe and Denmark and emphasized the importance of maintaining control over the EU’s external borders. Earlier, she spoke with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Italy Launched the Proposal to Suspend Spain
On Thursday, the Italian far-right leader was the first head of government to promote the idea of a possible suspension of the Schengen Agreement with Spain.
“The images coming out of Ceuta are shocking and demonstrate, once again, that uncontrolled illegal immigration represents a real threat to the security of European borders,” she said via social media.
“I met with the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi. Italy will not stand idly by. We are convening the relevant bodies and, following these meetings, we are prepared to intervene, including with extraordinary measures to defend our borders and guarantee the safety of our citizens, such as suspending the Schengen Area agreement with Spain.”
“We will not give an inch on illegal immigration: defending our borders, arresting human traffickers, and ensuring effective repatriations will remain this government’s policy,” Meloni concluded.
Grupos organizados de Extrema Derecha han sembrado el caos en Ceuta, agrediendo a las personas migrantes con las que se cruzaban y a vecinos/as de la ciudad.
Es necesario tomar medidas serias y actuar de forma contundente contra los racistas.
¡NI UNA AGRESIÓN RACISTA MÁS! pic.twitter.com/4cxDYmXrAL
— ۞ Pasamontañas Crew ۞ (@AntiNaziDiscret) July 30, 2026
The text reads, “Organized far-right groups have sown chaos in Ceuta, attacking migrants they encountered and local residents. Serious measures must be taken, and decisive action must be taken against these racists. Not one more racist attack!”
Germany’s AfD Proposes a Possible Suspension of the Schengen Area
On Friday, Alice Weidel, the leader of the German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), called for her country to protect its borders, strictly enforce migrant returns and suspend the Schengen Area if necessary.
“Ceuta invaded… Spanish authorities have so far recorded up to 50,000 illegal border crossings in Ceuta,” she posted on social media, where she claimed that “even today the surge toward the border continues unabated.”
The AfD leader, whose party advocates a hard-line migration policy, said that “the likely destination of most of these migrants is Germany.”
The previous day, commenting on a report about the first several hundred illegal crossings into Ceuta, Weidel wrote on X that what happened in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, most of them fleeing the Syrian civil war, arrived in Germany, “must not be allowed” to happen again.
French Far Right Calls for Changes to Schengen
On Friday, the French far right directly linked the Spanish government’s regularization of undocumented migrants with the mass arrival of immigrants at the Ceuta border.
“By regularizing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has opened Europe’s doors to every danger. The result is there: for several days, thousands of migrants have been arriving in the enclave of Ceuta. Tomorrow they will be on our streets, against the will of the French people,” said Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally (RN), the party led by Marine Le Pen.
“The French government must urgently strengthen controls on the land border with Spain,” Bardella said, adding that if his party comes to power it will advocate reforming Schengen so that free movement within the countries that are parties to the treaty is limited exclusively to European citizens. “…it is time to send the signal that France and Europe no longer accept mass immigration,” he said.
Similarly, Marine Le Pen, a candidate in next spring’s French presidential election, stressed that “faced with the massive and coordinated entry of migrants into Spain encouraged by the Spanish government, France must strengthen controls at its borders without delay.”
Le Pen announced that next year “we will stop this madness by reserving Schengen free movement for EU nationals,” taking for granted that she will win the Elysee Palace in the spring presidential election.
The reason people are invading Ceuta, Spain right now is because that removes Spanish control from both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.
So you’re going to have the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar contested, cutting off all transport to the… pic.twitter.com/u2lACVpNFq
— Financelot (@FinanceLancelot) July 31, 2026
The Situation in Ceuta
“The images coming from Ceuta are violent. We will not accept a repeat of 2015,” Frederiksen said, referring to the migration crisis triggered by the war in Syria.
The number of bodies found in recent hours along the coast of Ceuta following the mass arrival of people from Morocco has risen to 43, according to police sources.
The Spanish Interior Ministry reported that more than 25,000 migrants had already returned to Morocco on Friday, out of the approximately 50,000 who had entered Ceuta irregularly in recent days.
The number of returns is expected to increase significantly throughout the day, as departures from the Spanish city in North Africa into Moroccan territory are taking place at a very high rate of about 150 people per minute, according to the Interior Ministry.
The crisis began earlier this week with young people swimming from Moroccan territory to Ceuta and culminated Thursday in a mass irregular entry of people who crossed on foot over a breakwater marking the border between Spain and Morocco.
On Friday, Spanish President Pedro Sanchez condemned what he described as an “attack” and “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” following the irregular entry into the Spanish city of Ceuta in North Africa of thousands of people from Morocco.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.