Spanish leader slams ‘selfish’ EU response as death toll from Ceuta crossings climbs | CNN

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has denounced the “selfish” response of several EU member states to an influx of migrants crossing into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from Morocco this week, as the number of people who died rose to 67. Most of those 50,000 to 60,000 people who attempted the crossing had returned to Morocco by Friday evening, Spanish authorities said. Authorities in Ceuta said many of those who lost their lives drowned as crowds streamed over the border by land and sea on Thursday, overwhelming border guards. In a letter quoted widely by European media, Sánchez condemned the “selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction” from other EU countries, after Italy temporarily placed some border controls on travel from Spain, while France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez ordered extra checks along the countries’ shared border. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also called for Spain’s membership of the Schengen agreement to be suspended. Sánchez said in his letter that “such an attitude” was “driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interest.” “In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of