A diplomatic row has deepened between Spain and Italy following the crossing of tens of thousands of migrants into the Spanish territory of Ceuta last month.
Madrid announced border controls on Italian travellers on Saturday in response to Rome’s earlier decision to impose restrictions on visitors from Spain.
Italians arriving at Barcelona airport were subject to random police checks after the controls were put into effect overnight, according to Spain’s state news agency EFE.
Spain’s government said the controls would stay in place for at least a month, after warning it would take “proportionate measures to protect the interests and dignity of its citizens” if Rome didn’t lift its own restrictions by August 9.
An influx of people crossing the border of Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in late July stunned the national and local governments of Spain, with Madrid deploying the military on Friday to try and contain the situation.
Some 72,000 migrants arrived, and although most have since gone back, more than 80 died, including some who drowned or were trampled in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier.
This prompted a scathing criticism by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of her Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez’s migration policies, suggesting that they were responsible for the massive influx.
On August 1 Rome imposed identity checks on people arriving by plane or boat from Spain – a challenge to the EU’s Schengen agreement.
Within the European Union there is a visa-free travel area known as Schengen, which allows citizens of most EU countries to travel easily across borders.
According to the EU, member states are allowed to temporarily reintroduce controls at the EU’s so-called internal borders in case of a serious threat, such as one to internal security.
But it also says border controls should be applied as a last resort in exceptional situations, and must be time-limited.
Meloni’s office said on Friday that Italian authorities “have no intention” of lifting border checks on people arriving from Spain by sea or air until at least August 15.
“Italy does not accept ultimatums or impositions from abroad about national security and border control,” a statement said.
Should there be a repeat of migrant arrivals in Ceuta, Italy would review its decision to impose the checks “only when we are certain that there will be no security or terrorist risks for Italy, that there will be no new wave, and that there are no irregular migrants heading towards European territory,” the statement added.
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