Why Spain’s EU allies turned on Pedro Sanchez over Ceuta: the hard right now sets their agenda on migration

Rightwing narratives have gone mainstream, and Madrid finds itself increasingly isolated for its humane approach to migrants Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here It was over almost as quickly as it began. But the human cost of the mayhem in Ceuta over the last seven days, and the disunity it exposed within the EU, will take a lot longer to fix. To recap: more than 70,000 people swam or waded into the tiny Spanish enclave in north Africa from neighbouring Morocco in a matter of hours at the end of last week. The exact circumstances in which the heavily securitised border came suddenly to be open are still unclear. What is clear is that at least 88 people died. Some drowned, others were trampled in the crush. Social media hyped a distorted version of events. Far-right parties, already driving the agenda on migration across Europe, weaponised the story. And Spain’s EU allies engaged in a war of words – not over the plight of those caught up in the tragedy, but over who let them into EU territory. Italy and Denmark jointly led the way there, accusing Madrid of failing to secure the EU’s only land border with Africa. Although Ceuta is not even in the EU