On the recent hybrid attacks and instrumentalisation of migrants in Ceuta and the need for a coordinated response to protect the EU’s external borders

–having regard to the Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Morocco on cooperation in the field of prevention of illegal emigration of unaccompanied minors, their protection and their concerted return, which was signed in Rabat on 6 March 2007 and entered into force on 2 October 2012,

–having regard to its previous resolution on Ceuta and Morocco, of 10 June 2021, on the breach of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and the use of minors by Moroccan authorities in the migratory crisis in Ceuta,

–having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas 30 and 31 July 2026 saw the sudden and exceptional irregular arrival of approximately 80 000 people from Morocco in the autonomous Spanish city of Ceuta;

B.whereas over those two days, at least 141 people lost their lives at sea trying to reach Ceuta;

C.whereas over the two days following their irregular arrival, approximately 70 000 people voluntarily returned to Morocco, following close cooperation between the Spanish and Moroccan authorities; whereas in the days after those initial returns, a number of further voluntary returns took place;

D.whereas approximately 5 000 irregular migrants remain in Ceuta, of whom approximately 1 500 are unaccompanied minors;

E.whereas the causes, circumstances and precise facts surrounding these events have still not been sufficiently clarified;

F.whereas this situation has overwhelmed the city of Ceuta, placing public services under enormous pressure, creating serious security concerns and leaving local residents feeling afraid and without adequate protection;

G.whereas among those remaining in Ceuta are people seeking international protection and people fleeing war, persecution or human trafficking;

H.whereas attention should be given to the protection needs of women, children and other vulnerable persons, including measures to prevent and address sexual and gender-based violence and exploitation;

I.whereas third countries, state-controlled actors or criminal networks may deliberately and cynically instrumentalise vulnerable people and migration flows as part of hybrid actions intended to place pressure on Member States, destabilise European societies and weaken the European project;

J.whereas this crisis has highlighted the need to strengthen Member States’ preparedness capacities in the face of sudden and large-scale migratory movements and to urgently implement the provisions of the Pact on Asylum and Migration on crisis protocols and action against such instrumentalisation; whereas the Spanish Government, the Kingdom of Morocco and the EU must each assume their respective responsibilities;

K.whereas the response to this crisis, including a delayed request from Spain for Frontex assistance, revealed a lack of preparedness; considers that the events in Ceuta demonstrate the need for a stronger capacity for early operational support from the EU at its external borders; calls on the Commission, in the context of the forthcoming revision of Frontex’s mandate, to assess how Frontex can intervene to assist Member States at an earlier stage in situations of rapidly increasing or disproportionate pressure at the EU’s external borders, including through reinforced early-warning mechanisms, risk assessment and, in clearly defined circumstances, a more automatic deployment of operational support, while fully respecting fundamental rights;

L.whereas Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish and European territories and their borders are external borders of the EU, which require effective protection, taking into account their specific geographical situation and needs;

M.whereas in accordance with Article 41 of the Schengen Borders Code, specific rules apply in respect of Ceuta and Melilla, meaning that people arriving irregularly in Ceuta are not permitted to, and in this case therefore could not, travel onwards to the Spanish mainland or to other countries in the Schengen area or the EU;

N.whereas the Italian Government introduced internal border controls (under the Schengen Borders Code) between Italy and Spain from 1 August 2026 until 1 September 2026, and have since extended those controls until 16 September 2026;

O.whereas the Pact on Migration and Asylum must provide the basis for a genuinely common EU response, combining solidarity and the fair sharing of responsibility with effective border management, efficient procedures and full respect for fundamental rights;

P.whereas on 1 August 2026, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, sent a letter to the Irish Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, calling for the Irish Presidency to convene, as a matter of urgency, an extraordinary meeting of the EU home affairs ministers; whereas on 1 August 2026, 22 Heads of State or Government wrote to the Council President, António Costa, Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Presidency of the Council, also calling on the Irish Presidency to convene an urgent meeting of the home affairs ministers; whereas an informal video conference of home affairs ministers took place on 4 August 2026;

Q.whereas Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs held an extraordinary meeting on 6 August 2026 to discuss the events, together with Commissioner Magnus Brunner and the Mayor-President of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas; whereas the decision of Spain’s Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz Delgado, and Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez, to decline to attend demonstrates a regrettable lack of engagement with Parliament’s scrutiny and deprived the committee of direct explanations from the Spanish authorities responsible for managing the crisis;

1.Expresses its deep regret and sorrow for the people who died at sea during the events of 30 and 31 July 2026;

2.Expresses its solidarity with the people of Ceuta and all those who have lost relatives or loved ones;

3.Restates its firm support for multilateralism and the rules-based international order; reaffirms that any attempt to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Spain violates international law and the UN Charter;

4.Recalls that Ceuta has an EU external border whose protection and security concern the whole of the EU; welcomes the Commission’s decision to grant emergency funding from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Border Management and Visa Instrument totalling EUR 114.7 million to Spain to address the situation in Ceuta; calls for sustained, structural long-term funding at EU level for appropriate infrastructure to be developed in Ceuta;

5.Emphasises that solidarity between Member States, and the full engagement of the EU and its institutions, agencies and bodies, is the only answer to hybrid attacks; reiterates that a lack of a united response now only makes the EU weaker and future hybrid attacks more likely;

6.Expresses strong solidarity with Spain, as it has done for other Member States targeted by hybrid attacks; reiterates the need for Spain to effectively protect the EU’s external borders, as is also the case for all Member States with EU external borders, in compliance with relevant international law, in particular the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees;

7.Expresses its full solidarity with the citizens of Ceuta and commends them for the manner in which they have coped with the events; applauds the efficient and professional response of the Spanish security forces in Ceuta in helping save lives;

8.Recognises that approximately 1 500 unaccompanied minors are still in Ceuta; stresses that the Spanish authorities must ensure the protection and appropriate care of unaccompanied minors; calls on the Spanish authorities to carry out individual assessments of their circumstances and needs without delay, with the best interests of the minors as a primary consideration, in accordance with EU law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;

9.Takes note of the role of current cooperation mechanisms between Spain and Morocco in facilitating returns following the irregular crossings and in efforts to stabilise the situation; underlines the value of timely information-sharing and constructive dialogue with Morocco; underlines that effective cooperation on migration must be based on mutual responsibility and reciprocity, effective border management, the fight against migrant smuggling and trafficking, cooperation on return and readmission, and respect for fundamental rights;

10.Affirms that people who are not entitled to remain must return, through fair and effective procedures and always in accordance with the law, human dignity and fundamental rights;

11.Recalls that, under Article 41 of the Schengen Borders Code and the Declaration by the Kingdom of Spain on the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in the Final Act to the Agreement on the Accession of the Kingdom of Spain to the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985, specific rules apply in respect of Ceuta and Melilla, meaning that people arriving irregularly in Ceuta are not permitted to travel freely onwards to the Spanish mainland or to other EU Member States or other countries in the Schengen area;

12.Regrets Italy’s decision to introduce internal border controls with Spain as of 1 August 2026 in response to the events in Ceuta, and their subsequent extension until 16 September 2026; expresses serious doubt as to the necessity and proportionality of these measures, given the restrictions on onward travel from Ceuta to mainland Spain and other countries in the Schengen area; calls on Italy to review these measures with a view to lifting them;

13.Considers that disinformation networks, migrant smugglers, human traffickers and their enablers are likely to have played a significant role in the events in Ceuta; stresses that the full scope of their involvement and their respective responsibilities must be established; calls for an independent and transparent investigation to establish who was responsible for triggering or facilitating the events, what precisely happened at both borders, how many people lost their lives, how the relevant authorities responded and whether they fulfilled their legal and political responsibilities; underlines the need for the EU to step up its efforts in fighting disinformation, criminal smuggling and trafficking;

14.Calls on the Commission to ensure that providers of very large online platforms and search engines fully comply with their obligations under the Digital Services Act, including the identification and assessment of systemic risks and the implementation of appropriate and proportionate mitigation measures under Article 35 thereof, particularly in crisis situations; calls, furthermore, on the Commission to support the early detection of online activities contributing to such risks and, where the conditions laid down in the Digital Services Act are met, to make full use of the crisis response mechanism provided for in Article 36;

15.Stresses that any response to hybrid threats must remain fully consistent with EU and international law, including the right to asylum, the principle of non-refoulement and the protection of children and other vulnerable people;

16.Emphasises that the Member States, when responding to such events, must respect EU and international law, in particular the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, EU law on asylum and the Charter of Fundamental Rights; calls on the Spanish Government to continue to treat unaccompanied minors and vulnerable people with respect and in accordance with the law;

17.Calls on the Commission to investigate the nature and extent of the involvement of state or non-state actors in the instrumentalisation of migration flows during the events in Ceuta, including their possible political or destabilising objectives; stresses that any response must uphold the dignity and fundamental rights of those affected, including people misled by disinformation or subjected to exploitation;

18.Calls on the Spanish Government, the Commission and the relevant EU agencies to take urgent action to resolve the immediate social and humanitarian crisis in Ceuta;

19.Calls for the full and effective implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, ensuring solidarity and the fair sharing of responsibility between Member States, particularly when territories at the EU’s external borders face exceptional migratory pressure;

20.Calls for the EU to strengthen its resilience against attempts to exploit migration in order to fuel polarisation, disinformation and distrust, thereby undermining social cohesion and weakening the European project;

21.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.