ROME, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Italy has extended by a further week its suspension of the European Union’s border-free arrangement with Spain, an Italian government source said on Friday.
The extension aligns Italy with the countermeasure taken by Madrid, which has suspended its own Schengen arrangements with Rome until October 22.
In the coming days the Italian and Spanish interior ministers will work to explore alternative forms of cooperation, the source added.Italy first suspended Schengen arrangements with Spain on July 31 and has repeatedly prolonged the measure, in response to a mass surge in migrant arrivals into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco.
Madrid criticised the move in August, describing Italy’s actions as “unjust, contrary to European Union interests and discriminatory to the population of Spain”.
Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Giulia Segreti
