Macron slams 'very politicised' EU leader debate on migration

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed frustration on Friday over a contentious and highly politicized debate among European Union leaders regarding migration issues during a summit in Brussels. Migration is often a sensitive topic within the EU, but tensions escalated following a wave of migrants arriving in Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa, this summer.

The influx of tens of thousands of individuals highlighted the limitations of European cooperation on migration matters. Since then, European efforts to address the situation have been less successful.

The debate pitted Spain, which supports a more open immigration policy and regularisation of undocumented migrants, against a majority of EU member states that favor a stringent approach. Spain's advocates, including France and Luxembourg, received backing from the EU summit. In contrast, Italy and Denmark, along with Poland, pushed for a more stringent stance, even proposing to exclude Spain from the Schengen Area at the height of the crisis.

During the summit, leaders Poland, Italy, and Denmark advocated for a text that labeled irregular migration as a "challenge" to societies and criticized initiatives that encouraged migrants to travel to Europe, seemingly targeting Spain. However, the proposed text did not gain the approval of all 27 EU member states.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed disagreement with the Danish prime minister after the heated discussion among leaders. Despite this disagreement, Spain and Rome agreed to end the tit-for-tat border checks that had been introduced following the Ceuta incident.