\nSpain has imposed border controls on all air and sea travel from Italy as a row between the two EU countries intensifies.
\nThe measures – which started at midnight (22:00 GMT) and will last for a month – come a week after Italy introduced similar restrictions following an influx of about 78,000 migrants from Morocco into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
\nSpanish officials said the documents of 5%-10% of passengers were being checked before they were allowed to disembark planes. Italy has also said its border controls are random.
\nThe crisis has pitted Spain\u2019s socialist leader Pedro Sanchez against Italy\u2019s conservative leader Giorgia Meloni – who has long called for stricter EU migration rules.
\nItaly does not share a land border with Spain. Its government said last week that decision to temporarily suspend the \u200bborder-free Schengen arrangement was to prevent any of the migrants who had entered Ceuta from travelling on to Italy.
\nMadrid dismissed this position, saying it was based on \u201cspurious arguments\u201d that lacked any basis in fact because the migrants who entered Ceuta had no way of entering the Schengen area.
\nOn Friday, Spain demanded Italy reverse its checks by Sunday. Rome said they would stay until at least 15 August – when, it said, Spain \u201cexpects a new wave of migration\u201d to hit Ceuta.
\nItaly has said that Spanish and EU citizens are exempt from additional checks when arriving in Italy, with these extra steps only for non-EU residents.
\nHowever, it is not clear how border officials were meant to distinguish between EU and non-EU travellers and El Pais has reported that several Italian airport terminals have seen long queues and waiting times in recent days, with passengers arriving from Spain directed to a specific line for checks.
\nAs for Spanish controls, the authorities insists the immigration checks are random. However, a passenger arriving in Madrid on Saturday told national broadcaster RTVE that all passengers on her flight had had to show their passports.
\n\u201cThey told us we couldn\u2019t get off the plane without showing our documents,\u201d Elisa said.
\nAnother passenger said \u201cwe were stopped and asked for identification, which the police seemed to approve of\u201d.
\nSpain says its checks will stay in place until 7 September \u201cunless a change in the circumstances that led to its adoption warrants modifying that period\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spain has imposed border controls on all air and sea travel from Italy as a row between the two EU countries intensifies. The measures – which started at midnight (22:00 GMT) and will last for a month – come a week after Italy introduced similar restrictions following an influx of about 78,000 migrants from Morocco […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-560947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n