Latvia discovered a tunnel under its border with Belarus and vowed to intensify action against smuggling networks, the latest signal that Europe's migration debate has moved decisively toward enforcement and border security. The find came as EU officials framed migration policy in increasingly security-first language, stressing the need to protect external borders and the Union's integrity.
The shift follows a deadly mass crossing at the end of July, when tens of thousands of irregular migrants entered Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, leaving around 100 dead. The episode triggered a diplomatic rift between Rome and Madrid and exposed Spain's growing isolation as right-wing political forces came to dominate European migration policy. A right-wing, security-first approach has become mainstream. Spain's more progressive model now stands as an exception, with even left-wing parties adopting securitarian language.
The Diplomatic Fallout
Italy reinstated border controls for air and sea arrivals following the irregular inflows into Ceuta, prompting Commissioner for Internal Affairs Magnus Brunner to intervene. He wrote on X: "I was in contact with both the Spanish and Italian interior ministers today. Both confirmed that the internal border controls are temporary." Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland called for the swift restoration of control over the EU's external borders and floated reintroducing checks within Schengen.
Italy and Denmark led an open letter, signed by 22 EU governments, addressed to EU leaders and calling for "addressing all policies that can serve as pull factors, such as the regularisation of very large numbers of irregular migrants." Ireland, Portugal, France and Luxembourg didn't sign. The letter was a direct rebuke to Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, who'd faced criticism at the last European Council over his plan to regularise around half a million migrants who entered the country illegally.
MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Spain/S&D and a former justice minister, said: "At the European scale, the right wing and the nationalist, reactionary attitude towards migration is the prevailing one." MEP Cecilia Strada, Italy/S&D, said the Spanish government is regularly attacked by right-wing parties in the European Parliament because Sánchez remains the last bastion of progressive migration policy at an EU level. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has worked closely with Giorgia Meloni on the issue.
Return Hubs and the New Enforcement Regime
The right-wing turn was cemented by new legislation endorsed by European governments and lawmakers in June, which includes stricter surveillance measures, restrictions on the freedom of movement and the possibility to establish "return hubs" in third countries. Return hubs are a controversial initiative spearheaded by Italy in Albania to establish facilities for processing asylum requests and repatriation orders outside EU borders. The Netherlands and Denmark are also outspoken supporters.
In an op-ed published in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday, EPP leader Manfred Weber called for the swift establishment of return hubs in Africa, pointing to Morocco's cooperation during the Ceuta crisis, as the country immediately agreed to take back most of those who'd crossed the border illegally. French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed return hubs as ineffective and contrary to EU values. At the last EU summit, 19 leaders signed a joint declaration calling to make "full use" of Europe's new migration rules, an implicit nod to the establishment of return hubs.
Security Language From Brussels
Senior Commission officials have adopted a similarly securitarian approach. In a special committee meeting in the European Parliament, Brunner said: "we cannot accept such a breach of the integrity of our external borders and a violation also of the security of the Union." Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote in a letter to Sánchez: "From this incident, it is clear that we must do more to further strengthen our borders at critical points, both with vigilant monitoring and the use of physical barriers where needed."
Sánchez said: "The Spanish government will use all the levers of the state, all the resources of the state, to guarantee the security of the citizens of Ceuta," and called the mass influx a "violation of Spain's territorial integrity." In Spain, Meta and TikTok agreed to fact-check content about border crossings after the deadly rush to Ceuta, a private-sector response to misinformation around the border incident.
Chiara Catelli, an advocacy officer at the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, said: "In the past years, there has been a progressive shift towards a more securitarian language from both traditionally conservative politicians and left-leaning ones." She added: "The result of treating migration as a security problem with ever more repressive measures is to foster social exclusion and marginalisation, while also criminalising solidarity towards migrants."
Why This Matters:
The Ceuta crisis has accelerated a fundamental recalibration of European migration policy toward enforcement, border integrity and national sovereignty. Twenty-two governments now explicitly reject large-scale regularisation as a pull factor, a position that would've been politically marginal five years ago. The shift reflects public opinion across much of the continent, where uncontrolled migration is seen as a failure of governance and a threat to social cohesion. Spain's isolation shows how quickly the political centre of gravity has moved. The return hub model, once dismissed as unworkable, is now backed by a majority of member states and could become the default mechanism for processing asylum claims outside EU territory. That represents a structural change in how Europe manages its external border, with consequences for asylum law, bilateral relations with third countries, and the future of Schengen free movement.