22 EU leaders slam Sanchez's handling of Ceuta crisis; Spain defends itself

EU leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, criticized Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez over the Ceuta crisis.

The leaders said Sánchez's handling undermined EU security and raised 'serious concern' over the threat to the EU's frontier.

Sánchez hit back, calling EU partners 'selfish' amid the influx of around 50,000 unauthorized migrants from Morocco into Ceuta.

The 22 leaders pointed to Sánchez's move to grant legal status to up to 1.2 million unauthorized migrants as a 'pull factor' fueling the crisis.

Almost all of the migrants have now returned to Morocco.