Italy Extends Spain Border Curbs; Madrid Retaliates

Italy said Monday it will suspend open-border travel with Spain for another 15 days, extending curbs it imposed after tens of thousands of migrants rushed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta a month ago, Reuters reported.

Spain answered within hours, saying it would keep screening passengers arriving from Italy by air and sea for 15 more days.

The tit-for-tat controls have punched a hole in the European Union's passport-free Schengen zone between two of its founding members.

Italy's interior ministry said the extension "was taken ... due to the persistence of the factors that had led to the reintroduction of the measures," according to Reuters.

Where Things Stand in Ceuta

Spanish authorities say between 5,000 and 8,000 people remain in Ceuta, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez put the figure at about 5,000, including at least 1,200 minors, according to Deutsche Welle.

Nearly all of the roughly 70,000 people who broke through the barrier returned to Morocco in the days after the crossing, DW reported — a fact that makes Rome's continued restrictions harder for Madrid to swallow.

Ceuta sits on the North African coast, bordered by Morocco on one side and the sea on the other, with no land route to the EU mainland.