Hybrid war hypocrisy: How the migrant attack on Spain shattered the ‘EU solidarity’ delusion

Brussels’ kid-gloves response is a far cry from its united front against Belarus in 2021 The EU has responded to the migrant invasion of Ceuta with watery statements on solidarity, and a stone-faced refusal to blame Morocco for opening its borders. But when Brussels could blame Russia, it sang a different tune. As nearly 60,000 north African migrants poured into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from Morocco on Thursday and Friday, right-wing and center-right European leaders immediately blamed Spain, where Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had only three months earlier granted legal status to 500,000 illegal immigrants.Sanchez refused calls from local authorities in Ceuta to declare a national emergency, but deployed a token force of 60 troops to the exclave – a gesture perceived by the European right as inadequate.Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was first to respond, calling for Spain’s exclusion from the EU’s border-free Schengen Area. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares replied angrily, demanding “European solidarity, not partisan demagoguery” from Italy. Nevertheless, Italy suspended visa-free entry from Spain on Friday evening.There was little sympathy for Spain on the E...