#schengen area

Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez is crashing the Schengen Area, an essential feature of the European Community.

Sam Jones, Angela Giuffrida, and Jakub Krupa at The Guardian:

At least 57 people have died trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after as many as 50,000 migrants entered the tiny territory from Morocco in what Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”. The huge influx, which took place over the course of just 24 hours, overwhelmed the city of 85,000 people, triggered a political crisis for Madrid and led to a mixed reaction from other EU countries, including calls for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone. Sánchez, who arrived in Ceuta on Friday morning, said he would use all the resources at his disposal to guarantee the safety of the city’s population. He attributed the mass crossing to “human trafficking mafias” that had taken advantage of a decision by Spain’s supreme court, which recently ruled that those intercepted at sea while trying to enter Ceuta, or Spain’s other north African enclave of Melilla, could not be summarily returned under special rules.

Sánchez said: “That has spread like wildfire during these last few hours through the networks of mafias that traffic in human beings and has produced an avalanche of the characteristics and dimension that we experienced yesterday.” Sánchez said a temporary reception centre would be established to facilitate the documentation, registration, triage and “expedited” expulsion of people with no legal claim to be in Spain.

He also said the government would erect a visible barrier – a line of buoys – near the breakwater at Ceuta’s Tarajal beach to make it clear where the border was, and to legally comply with the court’s ruling. Although the Spanish government said about 50,000 people had crossed the border on Thursday and in the early hours of Friday, the president of Ceuta put the figure at about 60,000. Spain’s interior ministry, which has deployed additional police officers and soldiers to the enclave, said more than 48,300 people had voluntarily returned to Morocco by 6pm on Friday.

[...] That crossing came amid heightened tensions between Madrid and Rabat over Spain’s decision to allow the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, the Polisario Front, to be treated for Covid-19 in Spain. Morocco and the Polisario Front both lay claim to Western Sahara, which was under Spanish rule until 1975, when colonial authorities handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania. That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its longstanding policy of neutrality and backed Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara – a move that had caused a diplomatic rift between Spain and Algeria, which had supported the Polisario group. Sánchez visited Algiers on 20 July – the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years – marking a thaw in relations with Algeria.

[...] Ceuta and Melilla have the E​U’s only land border with ​Africa. ‌Both cities ​periodically ​experience surges in attempted crossings by people seeking to reach Europe.

As much as 50,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Most of those have since returned to Morocco.

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More than any other, we've been asked to review Jet Lag. It's the show where a group of young men split up and - in this instance - travel around Europe.

Over the next days, they'll take trains and planes and buses to cross borders. In this game, Liechtenstein is as valuable as Germany.

And there are challenges, silly things to do in an effort to win that country forever. Play beer pong with a waffle! Re-create The Creation of Adam while lying upside down! Blow your way through "Ode to Joy"!

Jet Lag emerges as a show with characters - Ben, Sam, Adam, and special guest Tom Scott prove to be good matches for each other. There's a good balance between process - the rules and travelling - with progress in the game, and challenges to entertain. If there's one weak point, it's that the challenges here were a bit reliant on stereotypes, and never scratched beneath the surface of a culture - it sometimes came across as Yankee Lads On A Gap Year.

𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚 will join the European Union's Schengen Zone on 1st January 2025, enabling seamless travel and movement across Europe. The 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐙𝐨𝐧𝐞, named after agreements signed in Schengen, Luxembourg, is the world's largest border-free area, covering 29 countries.

🇧🇬Bulgaria and 🇷🇴Romania become full Schengen members

Since the turn of the year, Bulgaria and Romania have been completely part of the so-called "Schengen area". All border controls, especially at the ground borders, are eliminated, which should lead to considerable relief for the forwarding industry.

The two countries applied to join the Schengen Agreement in 2011, and a year ago controls at the air and sea borders were lifted.