▲ Moroccans flock to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa
Following the incident where Moroccan migrants rushed into Spain's Ceuta, Italy has responded strongly by immediately announcing border crossing restriction measures.
According to local media such as ANSA news agency on the 4th (local time), the Italian Ministry of Interior stated that the number of migrants who entered Italy by sea this year decreased by 55% compared to the same period last year.
Compared to 2023, when Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government took office, the drop reaches approximately 82%.
This statistic emerged while the Italian government was in a dispute with the Spanish government over the Ceuta incident.
It came as a rebuttal after the Spanish government targeted Italy, criticizing it for "failing to play its role" regarding the migrant issue.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani emphasized, "I think numbers, not myself, can answer the Spanish Foreign Minister," adding, "The Interior Ministry's statistics are the result of various bilateral agreements and the development of legal and safe migration routes."
Italy poured out high-intensity remarks immediately after the Ceuta incident, leading public criticism targeting Spain.
As soon as the Ceuta incident became known, Italy convened related agencies to discuss countermeasures, mentioning that the Schengen Agreement, which guarantees free movement of goods and people among 29 European countries, could be suspended for Spain alone.
Spain border closure measures came half a day after the meeting ended.
Italy also responded to the possibility of indirect migrant inflows by strengthening land checkpoints with its neighbor France.
Italy does not share a direct border with Spain.
Furthermore, given that Ceuta, although a Spanish autonomous city, is geographically located in North Africa, the possibility of Moroccan migrants entering Italy in the short term is not very high.
This is why analyses suggest that Italy's swift and hardline response is not unrelated to the stagnant approval ratings of the Meloni coalition government.
The Meloni government faces growing internal a sense of crisis following the defeat of the judicial reform referendum in March of this year and the collapse of the electoral system reform bill last month.
In particular, the far-right party Future of the Nation, which has been rapidly rising ahead of the general elections next year, is interpreted as a sign of division within the Meloni coalition's support base.
In a poll released last June, the approval rating for Future of the Nation recorded 5.9%, surpassing the League, one of the main parties in the Meloni coalition, at 5.8% for the first time.
In a poll early this month, it continued its steep upward trend, recording an approval rating of 7.1%.
Roberto Vannacci, the leader who founded Future of the Nation, calls himself a "true rightist" and is putting forward policies even more hardline than the right-leaning Meloni government.
A representative example is the "remigration" policy, which aims to go beyond deporting migrants and refugees to revert Europe's demographic composition to the past.
The Meloni government's sensitive reaction and hasty response to the Ceuta incident appear to reflect an intention not to lose initiative on immigration policy—which is symbolic to the right wing—to Future of the Nation.
The ruling party led by Prime Minister Meloni is also sharpening its tone against the Spanish government, giving weight to the Meloni administration's response.
The ruling right-wing party Brothers of Italy criticized the Spanish government's criticism of Italy the previous day as "unrealistic and hypocritical."
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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