Spain reinstates border controls with Italy
EL RIGOR · 9 de agosto de 2026, 21:53 · 2 min read
Cross-checked in sources from El Español
The Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has temporarily reinstated border controls with Italy at ports and airports. This measure was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on Sunday and came into effect from midnight on Friday to Saturday.
According to the BOE, the measure is justified by the risks posed by people trafficking, fraudulent documentation, and terrorist threats. The minister argues that "the need to prevent criminal organisations from exploiting migration routes and international transport connections to facilitate irregular movements, traffic in human beings, counterfeit or provide fraudulent documentation, and develop other forms of border crime" is a serious, real, and current threat to public order and internal security.
Grande-Marlaska highlights that Frontex detected 11,600 irregular migrants along the Central Mediterranean route over five months, while Ceuta received 72,000 in 24 hours. However, the press notes that the minister fails to mention that a Spanish city, Ceuta, received a much higher number of irregular migrants over a significantly shorter period.
The controls are already in place at airports such as Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, or Valencia, affecting between 5% and 10% of passengers. A hundred National Police officers are dedicated to this operation. According to official data provided by the Ministry of the Interior, over the course of Saturday, 83 passengers arriving from Italy were checked at Madrid-Barajas Airport, 68 at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, 11 at Seville Airport, 5 at Bilbao Airport, and 33 at Valencia Airport.
This measure has generated controversy, as the press points out that the reasons cited by Grande-Marlaska in the BOE for establishing border controls with Italy would be sufficient for all EU states to suspend the Schengen space with Spain. Additionally, it is noted that Spain currently has 1.3 million undocumented immigrants who have applied for regularization under the government's process.
The next step will be to evaluate the effectiveness of this measure and how it will impact bilateral relations between Spain and Italy.
Piece prepared by the newsroom from cross-checked sources in several countries.