Europe's Ceuta response exposes Sánchez's isolation

If Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expected a wave of European solidarity when tens of thousands of migrants illegally entered the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, he would have been rudely disappointed.

As Sánchez deployed the military to contain Spain's biggest migration crisis in years, Europe's response focused less on showing support than on reprimanding him.

The crisis exposed how profoundly the political balance has shifted in Europe, where migration emergencies are increasingly framed less as a shared European challenge than as a test of whether governments are doing enough to repel migrants.

Key Reactions from European Leaders

• Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Denmark's Mette Frederiksen backed suspending Spain from the EU's Schengen Area of free movement, even though EU laws do not really allow that.
• Finland accused Madrid of failing to protect the EU's external frontier.
• Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on Morocco to immediately take back irregular migrants.
• France and the European Commission stressed the need for stronger border controls, deportations, and recourse to the EU's border agency Frontex, but refrained from sending explicit political support to Sánchez.

Situation on the Ground

A senior EU official noted: "So far we haven't seen any onward movements from Ceuta to mainland Spain or other member states."

24 hours after the surge of well over 50,000 arrivals peaked on Thursday, some 37,000 Moroccans had already returned home voluntarily.

Domestic and International Pressure

As dramatic images from Ceuta spread across social media, the Spanish premier came under successive waves of attacks from:

• Domestic opponents
• Europe's far right
• Influential US conservative voices

All portrayed the scenes as evidence that his government's pro-migration policies had failed.

Week in Review: Euractiv Policy Briefing

Tech – Joining the AI Arms Race

The European Commission's bid to spin up huge AI training hubs took shape this week with a long-awaited call-for-tender to build AI gigafactories, as Théophane Hartmann reports.

Key details:

• €5 billion in EU financing will be matched by countries' contributions
• Aim to pull in enough private money to hit a total €30 billion investment
• The plan will seed a network of seven hubs around the bloc
• Only four sites will house 100,000 AI chips

It has taken well over a year for Brussels to decide the size of the project, during which time global AI development has marched on. The capacity still lags far behind AI giants in the US, and the initiative comes as the environmental cost of powering and cooling data centres faces increasing scrutiny.

– Natasha Lomas

Energy, Environment & Transport – Assessing the Damage

The devastation wrought by wildfires across the European Union could rival last year's record of more than one million hectares burnt. The total area burnt has already reached upwards of 450,000 hectares, a third of which took place in Spain.

Euractiv visited the EU's situation room, which coordinates the bloc's coordinated emergency response.

"For the moment, the situation is similar to last year," an EU official said. "Last year was the worst, and the whole of August awaits us."

Wildfire season started much earlier than usual this year, and further outbreaks in Italy and Greece are expected.

– Nikolaus J. Kurmayer

Agri – What's Happening in the Black Sea?

The key trade route is back in the spotlight after Russia and Ukraine accused each other of disrupting grain exports, putting upward pressure on agricultural commodity prices and increasing market volatility.

However, analysts say the situation is very different from 2022, thanks to:

• An earlier harvest
• Larger storage capacity
• More established alternative routes for Ukrainian exports

– Angelo Di Mambro, reporting by Alice Bergoënd

Defence – Why Ukraine Is Targeting Russia's Largest Online Marketplace

Since 18 July, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly struck warehouses for Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer.

Kyiv says the strikes have a military purpose and that the company's logistics network helps supply Russian forces with equipment, including drone components and other battlefield gear. However, the campaign is about more than military supplies.

– Alice Tidey