SPAIN and Italy have agreed to end the temporary border checks that travellers between the two countries have faced since the summer.
Pedro Sanchez and Giorgia Meloni agreed to lift the restrictions during talks on the sidelines of the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday.
The checks will stay in place for one more week, after Italy extended its restrictions by seven days so they expire at the same time as Spain’s.
Under the temporary measures, passengers travelling between the two countries have faced identity and document checks at airports and ports, instead of the usual border-free travel.
The row began in late July, when tens of thousands of migrants made a deadly rush into Ceuta, Spain’s North African enclave, from Morocco. A UK House of Commons Library briefing put the number at more than 70,000, although Spanish authorities initially said it was closer to 50,000.
Italy brought in checks on arrivals from Spain on August 1, with Meloni calling them an “extraordinary measure” to protect national security.
Madrid gave Rome a two-day deadline to drop the checks and treat Spaniards like any other European citizens. When Italy refused, Spain introduced its own passport, nationality and visa checks on arrivals from Italy.
Italy kept extending its measures, warning of possible terrorist infiltration.
Experts said there was little chance of migrants travelling from Ceuta to Italy, especially as the two countries share no land border. EU institutions also reportedly found no evidence of migrants moving from Ceuta to mainland Europe, and the checks have drawn criticism in both countries.
Interior ministers Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Matteo Piantedosi are now due to discuss other ways of cooperating, though no details have been published.
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