Two decisions, two end dates
Spain's Interior Ministry introduced temporary passport, nationality and visa checks for travellers arriving from Italy; the checks begin at midnight going into Saturday and run until 7 September. Rome said it would not accept ultimatums or impositions and announced it would keep its own decision in place at least until 15 August. The instrument in each side's hands is the same: a temporary, unilateral, time-limited check.[1]
That form is not an accident. An internal border check is an instrument designed as an interim solution whose grounds are stated and whose duration is written in from the start. Spain cited persistent irregular migration pressure on Italy as its ground; Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described her own measures as an extraordinary step to safeguard national security. Both justifications are cast in the mould the instrument asks for.[1]
Why now, and what is different this time?
The trigger can be counted in Ceuta. At least 1,342 unaccompanied children remain in the city, and capacity is 90 beds. Youth Minister Sira Rego called the images of children sleeping on the streets painful and said two schools had been turned into reception centres. What made the decision unavoidable this week was a city running out of room to house people.[1]
At this point looking to the past can mislead. The familiar use of internal border checks was against a flow arriving from outside; here two member states are using the instrument against each other, and reciprocally. The ground Madrid states is the pressure on Italy, while Rome's measure is aimed at stopping those who entered Ceuta from reaching its own territory. Because of that disanalogy the outcome will be settled by what happens to two dates: if the periods are extended on 15 August and 7 September, an instrument designed as temporary will have turned into a standing regime of checks.[1]