Spain to begin random checks on travellers from Italy amid border row

Spain will begin random identity checks on travellers arriving from Italy from Saturday amid a dispute over temporary border controls imposed by Rome following a recent migration crisis, according to local media reports.

The checks at airports and ports will start at midnight and remain in place until September 7, Spain's public broadcaster RTVE and other major outlets reported.

Travellers arriving from Italy may be asked to show identification documents, including passports or residence permits.

The move came after Spain gave Italy until Sunday to lift its border controls or face what Madrid described as “proportionate measures”. Italy rejected the ultimatum, saying its checks would remain in place until at least August 15.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government linked the controls to Spain's recent mass regularisation of undocumented migrants and the migration crisis in Ceuta, where around 72,000 people reportedly crossed into the Spanish enclave last week.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called Italy's measures “unjustifiable”, saying they undermined the dignity of Spaniards and European unity. He also argued that the movement of migrants from Spain to Italy was “practically zero”.

Madrid has said the Ceuta situation does not pose a threat to the wider Schengen area because the enclave has special arrangements requiring identity checks before travellers can proceed to mainland Spain or other parts of the passport-free zone.

Spanish authorities said around 70,000 of the migrants who entered Ceuta last week have since returned to Morocco.