Prime ministers from Czechia and Austria criticised Spain’s migration policy at the Brussels summit. Denmark’s prime minister also joined the criticism as disputes over immigration delayed the summit’s close.
Pedro Sánchez addressed reporters in Brussels on 16 October 2026, after EU leaders disputed the summit’s final conclusions.
Several prime ministers criticised decisions by Sánchez’s government and warned of consequences for the European Union. The prime ministers of Czechia and Austria were among them. Leaders from Denmark, Italy and Poland also joined the criticism. Their dispute centred on Spain’s plan to regularise the status of undocumented migrants. A government decree covered about 500,000 people, while estimates discussed at the summit put the figure at around 600,000.
Critics warned the measure could create a pull factor for migration. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen urged the European Commission to examine its effects on other EU countries. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said it sent a bad signal, while Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš warned of tighter border controls.
Leaders called for new measures to curb irregular arrivals and a more restrictive common EU strategy. A draft of the summit conclusions called for steps to avoid creating incentives for irregular migration. It also urged coordination when national decisions could affect other member states.
Spain’s Interior Ministry recorded 27,230 irregular arrivals from the start of 2026 to 16 October, 5.9% fewer than the 28,922 recorded over the same period in 2025. That total excluded arrivals in Ceuta on 30 and 31 July. Sea arrivals on mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, however, rose 9.8%, from 12,252 to 13,458. Sánchez defended Spain’s approach as responsible and grounded in human rights. He pointed to cooperation with Mauritania and Senegal, as well as a 74% fall in arrivals on the Atlantic route.
The disagreement also played out against the migration crisis in Ceuta. Temporary checks on the border with the enclave began on 1 August and were due to last one month, after nearly 90,000 irregular migrants arrived there. Following talks between Sánchez and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the two governments agreed that their interior ministers would work to end the checks. The draft summit conclusions referred to Ceuta and Melilla as the EU’s only land borders on the African continent.
The summit dispute came amid wider arguments over migration controls. Spain and Italy’s plans to end Schengen checks were covered in an earlier report.
