The Italian Executive has communicated this Tuesday that it extends for an additional 15 days the suspension of the Schengen agreement on free movement. Thus, Italy will maintain controls at its border crossings for travelers arriving from Spain, in response to the crisis generated by the irregular entry, at the end of July, of several thousand migrants in Ceuta.
The resolution, signed by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, implies "the extension of border controls by land and air," a measure that Rome justifies by the "high risks of internal security, in addition to the potential threat of terrorist infiltration."
According to information disseminated by the Italian agency AdnKronos, the decision has been notified through an official document sent to the European Commission and to the interior ministers of the member states of the European Union (EU), including the Spanish minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. So far, the Government of Spain has not issued a public reaction to this new extension.
The temporary controls were activated on August 8 with an initial validity of one month and, since then, have been successively renewed. The Spanish Government, which has already expressed its rejection of Rome's initiative, responded by applying reciprocal Schengen controls to travelers arriving in Spain from Italy.