spain border controls italy flights

Spain imposes border checks on flights from Italy

Border checks extended to more Spanish airports

Spain has this Saturday extended border controls to passengers arriving from Italy at the airports of Málaga, Sevilla, Bilbao, Alicante and Valencia. The checks, which have been in place since midnight at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas and Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, will also be rolled out to airports in the Balearic and Canary Islands in the coming hours, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

The main airports of origin affected by the controls are Fiumicino and Ciampino in Rome, Malpensa in Milan, as well as Naples, Venice and Florence, with the list expected to grow in the coming days.

Checks at ports and onboard arrivals

As far as Spanish ports are concerned, only one cruise ship arriving from Italy is expected this Saturday, docking at the Barcelona Cruise Terminal tonight, where random checks will also be carried out. The controls are being conducted by around one hundred National Police officers assigned to border posts, who are combining these duties with their other specialist functions.

For air traffic, each flight is monitored by between two and four officers depending on the size of the passenger load, who verify the documentation of between 5% and 10% of travellers. This works out at an average of 15 passengers checked on medium-sized aircraft and 25 on larger planes.

Checks carried out at the aircraft door

The Ministry of the Interior explained on Saturday that the border controls on air connections with Italy are being carried out “at the aircraft door”, as passengers exit the boarding bridge, without redirecting the flow of passengers to an external border control area. The number of border police assigned to each control is determined by the passenger numbers on each flight.

Border agents are conducting the checks “in a random, non-systematic manner” on passengers who are nationals of third countries, in order to verify that they meet the requirements set out in the Schengen Borders Code. The aim at all times is “the greatest possible cooperation with passengers and airline staff”, so that nationals of member states are exempt from inspection and passengers can leave the aircraft with minimal delay.

Should any doubt arise over whether a passenger meets the requirements, necessitating a more thorough check, the individual is escorted to the border post, where “discreetly”, the necessary verifications are carried out and, where appropriate, the refusal of entry or any other required procedure is processed. All of this, according to the Ministry, is done in accordance with the guarantees and rights set out in immigration legislation.

EU authorities notified of the decision

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has this Saturday informed various European Union authorities of the Government’s decision to reinstate border controls at those airports and ports with direct connections between Spain and Italy. The communication was sent to the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President, Henna Virkkunen; the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner; the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola; and the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers of Interior of EU member states and Schengen-associated states, Thérèse Blanchet.

In the letter, Grande-Marlaska explains that the Spanish authorities are closely monitoring developments in the migratory situation in the Schengen area and, in particular, the migration pressure on the central Mediterranean route affecting Italy and its knock-on effects on other member states due to the activities of cross-border criminal networks linked to irregular migration.

Given the possible repercussions of this situation for public order and internal security, Spain has decided to temporarily reintroduce checks at certain internal borders, in accordance with Articles 25 and following of EU Regulation 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016, which establishes the Schengen Borders Code.

In the communication, Grande-Marlaska states that, under Article 27 of the aforementioned Regulation, the temporary reintroduction of border controls will apply to air and sea connections between Spain and Italy from 00:00 on 8 August until 00:00 on 7 September. This period may be amended depending on how the circumstances justifying the measure evolve and, upon expiry, the Spanish authorities will carry out a fresh assessment to determine whether to maintain, modify or lift the measure, the minister concludes.

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